In a warning to smokers, the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday said the use of tobacco products like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco including pan masala can increase severity of respiratory infections and make users susceptible to coronavirus which primarily attacks lungs.
Further, warned the Ministry in its document ‘Covid-19 Pandemic and Tobacco Use in India’, as the act of smoking means that fingers (and possibly contaminated cigarettes) are in contact with lips, there is possibility of transmission of virus from hand to mouth.