Shimla: Smokers now have another reason to quit smoking as experts have confirmed that smokers are more likely to develop severe symptoms or die from COVID-19.
National Health Mission, Director, Nipun Jindal had said that smoking impairs lung function, thereby reducing the immunity and making it harder for the body to fight off various diseases.
Smoking, e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, pan masala and the like products use can increase risk and severity of pulmonary infections because of damage to upper airways and a decrease in pulmonary immune function.
“Smokers are likely to be more vulnerable to COVID-19 as the act of smoking means that fingers (and possibly contaminated cigarettes) are in contact with lips which increases the possibility of transmission of the virus from hand to mouth” he added.
Furthermore, smoking products such as water pipes or hookah often involve the sharing of mouth-pieces and hoses, facilitate the transmission of COVID-19 in communal and social settings. Evidence from countries reporting COVID-19 related fatalities has highlighted that the people with pre-existing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are more susceptible to becoming severely ill with COVID-19.
He also said that the tobacco use poses a significant risk by accelerating the transmission of COVID-19 because the virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
Chewing tobacco products (Khaini, Gutkha, Paan, Zarda) increases the urge to spit. Spitting in public places increases health risks especially those of spreading the infectious and contagious diseases like, COVID19, tuberculosis, swine flu, encephalitis.
He has appealed the public to quit tobacco chewing and smoking for the well-being of themselves and their families.
According to the Global adult tobacco Survey-India, India is home to over 27 crore tobacco users and globally it’s the second largest producers and consumers of tobacco products.
As per the estimate, smoking attributes annual deaths of about 9,30,000, while the smokeless tobacco SLT attributes annual deaths of about 3,50,000 together accounting for about 12,80,000 deaths per year of approximately 3500 deaths every day.
Use of tobacco is also a major factor for the four main non-communicable diseases – cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic lung disease and diabetes, which puts people with these conditions at higher risk for developing severe illness when affected by COVID-19. The percentage of death is higher (38%) among TB patients associated with Tobacco use.
