FDA says smokers may run higher risk of catching COVID-19
The coronavirus is compounding the usual respiratory conditions and difficulties associated with cigarette smoking
Mounting evidence suggests that people who smoke cigarettes face a higher risk, compared with non-smokers, of developing severe complications from COVID-19 and dying from respiratory infections.
The Ghana Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has warned that the estimated 500,000-plus people in Ghana who smoke cigarettes daily run a higher risk of contracting COVID-19. So do other tobacco users.
Contamination
Representatives of the FDA were speaking to the media in the lead-up to this year’s World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), which fell yesterday, 31 May.
The head of the FDA’s tobacco and substance abuse department, Olivia Boateng, said: “The act of smoking means that fingers, and possibly contaminated cigarettes, are in contact with the lips, which increases the possibility of transmission of virus from hand to mouth.”
Respiratory disease
Dr Boateng explained that a review of studies by public health experts convened by the World Health Organization on 29 April confirmed smokers’ higher risk of contracting COVID-19 besides other respiratory diseases.
Giving details of data on smokers, she said the figure of 500,000 daily cigarette smokers is an estimate from Tobacco Atlas Ghana. It includes more than 425,200 men, 69,200 women and 2,700 boys.
The survey further shows that some prefer electronic cigarettes, and that 4.9% of this category are students, of whom 49% are boys and 50% girls.
Second-hand smoke
Dr Boateng said tobacco kills more than eight million people globally every year. Over seven million of these deaths are from direct tobacco use, while roughly 1.2 million are caused by non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.
She added that market surveillance, enforcement of the ban on tobacco advertising, high fees for tobacco product registration and sanctions on public smoking had helped to reduce the prevalence of smoking to a large extent. However, the FDA will still need to depend on collaborative efforts and more resources to curb the situation.
Charles Credence
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