1 INTRODUCTION Long COVID or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), is defined as the presence of persistent, often severely debilitating, symptoms beyond 12 weeks from an acute episode of COVID-19. In total, 3.1% of the UK population self-report long COVID symptoms (Office for National Statistics, 2023) and it can occur irrespective of the severity of acute COVID-19 symptoms. Thus, understanding the pathogenesis of long COVID symptoms is an important clinical challenge.
