The COVID-19 pandemic remains a global challenge now with the long-COVID arising. Mitigation measures focused on case counting, assessment and determination of variants and their likely targets of infection and transmission, the pursuit of drug treatments, use and enhancement of masks, social distancing, vaccination, post-infection rehabilitation, and mass screening. The latter is of utmost importance given the current scenario of infections, reinfections, and long-term health effects. Mid-infrared photonics screening platforms appear ideally suited to provide more sensitive, specific, and reliable tests that are accessible to the entire population and can be used to assess the prognosis of the disease as well as the subsequent health follow-up of patients suffering from long-COVID.
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