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The United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) revised its guidelines on the Covid-19 and nicotine, and maintained that smoking can amplify the chances of infecting with the disease, as per the Bloomberg report.
The agency, as quoted in the Bloomberg report, said: “People who smoke cigarettes may be at increased risk of infection with the virus that causes Covid-19, and may have worse outcomes from Covid-19.”
Earlier this month, the FDA had said that smokers are likely to face worse consequences from the Covid-19. But, they had not confirmed whether that included their chances of catching the virus in the first place.
This comes at a time when researchers and scientists are working round the clock to develop an antidote against the virus. The world tally of the novel coronavirus is nearly around 2.5 million confirmed cases with more than 1,71,000 deaths worldwide due to the pandemic.
The world’s estimated 1.1 billion people who smoke and 41 million people who vape have been advised to refrain smoking from public health agencies.
The FDA noted in its April 14 statement that cigarette smoking “causes heart and lung diseases, suppresses the immune system, and increases the risk of respiratory infections.” This gets aggravated by the coronavirus as it is a respiratory disease.
In its March 27 statement on the risks, the FDA had said that vaping and smoking only posed a higher risk for the coronavirus in people who had underlying conditions, Bloomberg report added.
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