A lot of you must be wondering what possibilities make Tobacco and COVID-19 related to each other. According to research, tobacco consumption can increase the risk of suffering from serious COVID-19 symptoms.
The World Health Organization, Malaysia has tweeted about spreading awareness regarding the risks of tobacco consumption. According to the WHO, if a person is consuming tobacco, his/her risk of getting affected by coronavirus increases.
Your risk of getting #COVID19 is bigger if you use tobacco
Quit today! @KKMPutrajaya https://t.co/2s1mGQlyAc
— WHO Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam & Singapore (@WHOMalaysia) June 29, 2020
Followed by another tweet, the official twitter handle of WHO of Malaysia posted a picture that talks about why tobacco is a major risk factor that might increase COVID-19 cases.
FACT: The effects of #COVID19 can be worse for people who use tobacco. pic.twitter.com/c2EqwocSB8
— WHO Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam & Singapore (@WHOMalaysia) June 29, 2020
The picture comprises three pictures that give a briefing on how tobacco consumption increases the chances of suffering from Coronavirus;
- Putting a tobacco product on your lips means that your fingers can come close to your face, which makes the virus spread easily.
- Tobacco consumption is somehow a matter of social activity, as well. If you are using tobacco with other people, then the risk of infecting each other increases.
- People who have been using waterpipe often share the same pipe, and that is why the virus can be spread from person to person.
Reports from China states that it is an evident fact that people who have been suffering from cardiovascular and any respiratory diseases have a higher risk of developing COVID-19. As per statistics, 55,924 laboratories confirmed that the rate of COVID-19 is higher in people already suffering from any chronic disease, hypertension, cancer, chronic respiratory disease. This also proves that the already existing medical conditions increase the chances of being vulnerable to COVID-19.
Tobacco has a very strong impact on its consumers’ respiratory system and is one of the most common reasons for increasing lung cancer cases. Tobacco consumption is one of the major factors for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). COPD causes the swelling of air sacs in the lungs, which reduces the lung’s capacity to consume oxygen and release carbon-di-oxide and forming mucus, which increases breathing difficulty and painful coughing.
Smoking weakens pulmonary immune functioning and increases risk factors reducing other infectious diseases and leading to serious outcomes of infected people. Smoking is a risk factor for increasing the chances of COVID-19. Public health servers and Physicians should keep track of data on smoking as a part of their clinical management study. Along with that, smoking should be added to the list of actions to appease the virus outbreak.
