Viral respiratory diseases are easily transmissible and can spread rapidly across the globe, causing significant damage. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a testament to this. In the past too, other viruses have caused massive respiratory disease outbreaks: for example, a subtype of the influenza virus, the type A H1N1 virus, was responsible for the Spanish flu and the Swine flu outbreaks. Thus, to prevent such health crises in the future, timely and accurate diagnosis of these viruses is crucial. This is exactly what researchers from Korea have attempted to work toward, in their brand-new study.