LONDON — Health experts on Monday urged smokers to quit and cigarette companies to stop producing and selling tobacco products to help reduce the risks from COVID-19. "The best thing the tobacco industry can do to fight COVID-19 is to immediately stop producing, marketing and selling tobacco," Gan Quan, a public health specialist and a director at the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, said in a statement. The group, which links international respiratory and lung specialists, officials and health agencies, said it is "deeply concerned" about COVID-19's impact on the world's 1.3 billion smokers, in particular those in poorer countries whose health systems are already overburdened. Smoking is known to weaken the immune system, making it less able to respond effectively to infections. Smokers may also already have lung disease or reduced lung capacity which would greatly increase the risk of serious illness.

Source: International New York Times April 06, 2020 12:45 UTC