Jakarta (ANTARA) – A survey conducted by the National Tobacco Control Committee found that the majority of smokers do not believe that smoking makes them more susceptible to contracting COVID-19.
“As many as 63.6 percent of smoker respondents do not believe smokers are more susceptible to contracting COVID-19 and the majority of them do not believe smoking will worsen symptoms of COVID-19,” said the lead researcher for the National Commission on Tobacco Control, Krisna Puji Rahmayanti at the launch of the survey results which were covered widely. online from Jakarta, Tuesday.
Also read: Survey: One school is “surrounded” by two places selling cigarettes
The survey was conducted on 612 respondents from various regions in Indonesia from 15 May 2020 to 15 June 2020 or three months after the Corona Emergency status at the end of February 2020.
In contrast to the respondents who were active smokers, respondents who were not smokers or former smokers believed that smoking could cause someone to catch COVID-19.
As many as 84.1 percent of respondents who were not smokers or former smokers believed that smokers were more susceptible to contracting COVID-19. As many as 87.2 percent of them even believe that smoking can make the symptoms of COVID-19 worse if infected.
Many scientific studies have actually stated that there is a causal relationship between smoking behavior and the transmission of COVID-19 and the severity of COVID-19 symptoms.
“Smoking makes it easier for smokers to catch COVID-19 and exacerbates comorbidities in COVID-19 patients,” said Agus Dwi Susanto, Chair of the Indonesian Lung Doctors Association.
Also read: Komnas PT: Not to be proud of high excise revenue
Also read: The National Commission for Tobacco Control supports handling of COVID-19
Therefore, the National Commission for Tobacco Control delivered a number of suggestions to the government regarding smoking behavior and cigarette spending in the community, including educating smoke-free homes, expanding smoke-free areas accompanied by education about the dangers of smoking, and restricting access to cigarette purchases.
The National Commission on Tobacco Control also recommends increasing smoking cessation education and providing smoking cessation services at first-level health services and increasing the size of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packages according to the tobacco control road map.
In addition, controlling cigarette consumption also needs to be included in the guidelines for handling COVID-19 by all task forces at the central and regional levels as well as increased cigarette excise to encourage an increase in cigarette prices.
– .
