Kohima, May 30 (MExN): On the eve of World No Tobacco Day, Dr C Tetseo, Joint Director and State Nodal Officer, National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) urged tobacco users in Nagaland to consider the COVID-19 pandemic a good time to quit.
Every year, May 31 is observed as World No Tobacco Day, and the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s theme for this year is ‘Commit to quit’.
Dr Tetseo said that the theme was chosen because COVID-19 has driven thousands of smokers across the globe to seek help to quit. This is because of the fact that smokers are prone to develop severe complications when they get infected with COVID-19 virus, Dr Tetseo stated.
The claims that smokers are less vulnerable to COVID-19 often come from researchers with conflict of interest with the tobacco Industry and so they have to be taken with pinch of salt, Dr Tetseo stated.
It is unlikely that damaged lungs and weakened immunity which smokers develop will ever help to fight other infections better, let alone Corona virus. Smokers also have greater chance of transferring virus from hand to mouth as they touch their lips often, he added.
Even though the WHO emphasis is on smoking, Dr Tetseo also highlighted the dangers of chewing tobacco, guthka, and paan as far as transmission is concerned “as indiscriminate spitting in public places, homes could increase the chance of droplet infection and contamination of surfaces.”
This is extremely dangerous as chewing of tobacco and paan is a favorite pastime of many in Nagaland, he noted.
People who use smokeless tobacco often soil their masks and they also remove them frequently, thus increasing the chance of contamination, Dr Tetseo explained.
Since COVID-19 cases are going up every day and may not be going away any time soon, it is important that we take all safety measures and also change out attitude towards tobacco which only takes your money and gives you diseases in return, he reasoned.
“Tobacco use is bad for all seasons but it could be worst during pandemic like COVID-19,” he concluded.
