More than 300,000 Britons have quit smoking during the coronavirus crisis as evidence mounts that the habit leaves them more vulnerable to Covid-19, a survey suggests.
A further 550,000 Britons have tried to quit, while 2.4 million have cut down, according to the joint study by the UK arm of YouGov’s international Covid-19 tracker in conjunction with anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).
The survey, of 1,004 people, suggested 2% of smokers had now quit due to Covid-19 concerns.
In addition, 8% of smokers said they were trying to quit, 36% said they had cut down, and 27% said they were now more likely to quit.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Visitors to UK face 'two weeks in quarantine'
A quarter of ex-smokers said they were now less likely to resume smoking, although 4% say the pandemic had made them more likely to relapse.
The figures were welcomed by several health and anti-smoking bodies in a statement issued by the #QuitforCOVID Twitter campaign.
ASH chairman Nick Hopkinson, a respiratory specialist at Imperial College London, said: “Smoking harms the immune system and our ability to fight off infections.
“Evidence is growing that smoking is associated with worse outcomes in those admitted to hospital with Covid-19.
![An ash tray](http://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/a28caec0a9ad05c46aff38b554adf75aY29udGVudHNlYXJjaCwxNTg4NDc3MTcx/2.3364121.jpg?w=640)
“Quitting smoking also rapidly reduces people’s risk of other health problems such as heart attacks and strokes – those are bad whenever they happen, so preventing them is an end in itself, but it’s especially important at a time like now when everyone is keen to stay out of hospital.”
Ruth Tennant, tobacco lead for the Association of Directors of Public Health, said: “There are so many reasons to quit smoking but never a more important time than right now during the coronavirus pandemic.”
The founder of the #QuitforCOVID campaign on Twitter, Bristol GP Charlie Kenward, encouraged more people to stop smoking amid the pandemic and beyond.
“Stopping smoking remains the single biggest thing people can do to improve their overall health,” he said.
“It will improve heart and lung health as well as reducing the chances of developing cancer and even improve wound healing after surgery.
“There has never been a better time to quit.”
The government is aiming to end smoking in England by 2030 as part of a range of measures to address preventable ill health.
And the Local Government Association said councils will play a role in helping this happen.
Community Wellbeing Board chairman Ian Hudspeth said: “Smokers are at particular risk of Covid-19 and it is encouraging that so many have quit the habit for good.
“Councils can help the Government to achieve its ambition of eliminating smoking in England by 2030, through their tobacco control and other public health and support services, but need certainty over their long-term funding to help do so.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel