Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is undertaking research to determine the extent to which smokers may experience more serious effects of covid-19 compared to non-smokers; and what information his Department holds on that matter.

At the request of Public Health England, an independent and regularly updated rapid review of the international evidence on smoking and COVID-19 has been made and is available at the following link:

https://www.qeios.com/read/UJR2AW.11

The evidence on smoking and COVID-19 is mixed and developing. We do not yet have a clear picture on the impact of smoking on COVID-19 risks. There is strong evidence that smoking tobacco is generally associated with an increased risk of developing respiratory viral infections.