• Long COVID is one of the many terms used to describe the persistent symptoms and the new or worsening health effects following the acute infection with SARS-COVID.

• The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine published a report on the diagnosis, symptoms, and effects of long COVID-19 on individuals' daily functioning.

• The report aims to provide a single definition for long COVID, which will help streamline its management guidelines.

• The report made the essential discovery that a positive COVID test is not mandatory to be diagnosed with long-term COVID and reported that more than 200 symptoms are associated with long-term COVID-19.

• Some of the findings of the report are as follows:

1. Females are two times more likely to be affected than males.

2. Patients of COVID-19 who required hospitalization were two to three times more likely to be affected.

3. Some of the most common effects include chronic fatigue and post-exertional malaise, which are often difficult to assess clinically but can impair an individual's functioning and interfere with schooling or work.

• The report found similarities between COVID-19 and other long-term diseases and concluded that further research is needed to understand the disease better.

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