LONDON (Reuters) - 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.
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. The Union's statement cited emerging evidence from preliminary studies of COVID-19 patients in China and elsewhere that suggest smokers infected with the new coronavirus become more severely ill and suffer more serious complications such as breathing difficulties.
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