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Over one million people in the UK have stopped smoking since COVID-19 started

A new study has reported that over a million people in the UK have quit smoking since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The findings, from the non-profit Action on Smoking and Health, found that almost half (41%) of those who quit, did so as a result of heightened health concerns.

smoking

A new study from the non-profit Action on Smoking and Health has found that over a million people in the UK have quit smoking since the start of the pandemic.

Though many of the effects of COVID-19 are still yet to be established, the virus is known to attack the respiratory system first.

The last few months have also seen researchers trying to find out more about the link between smoking and severe coronavirus cases, after the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a warning that the disease poses a particular risk to smokers.

Accordingly, the virus has been an incentive for people to give up smoking. At a press briefing in July, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described: “Smoking kills 8 million people a year, but if users need more motivation to kick the habit, the pandemic provides the right incentive.”

This has been particularly true for young people, Ghebreyesus adding that: “For young people who have been quitting, there’s a desire to generally be more healthy, and take control at a time in their lives where that control has been taken away.”

The report supports this notion, showing that of the 1 million people who quit between April and June, 400,000 were aged between 16 and 25.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Seth Rogan.