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“Therefore, during the closure, cigarette buyers were in close physical contact with people outside their homes more frequently than non-buyers.”
The council said its findings indicated that cigarette buyers were not practicing proper social distancing.
“Sharing tobacco products such as cigarettes or hookah pipes can also increase the risk of Covid-19 transmission in community and social settings,” the council said.
“The current ban on buying tobacco products during the blockade is therefore a crucial element in trying to reduce the impact of the virus on patients and the health care system.”
According to the council, South Africa’s health system does not have enough ventilators, hence the government’s emphasis to flatten the curve and limit the spread of the disease.
“According to current conservative estimates, if even 1% of South Africa’s 8 million smokers were infected and 5% of these required ICUs or high-care facilities, the healthcare system would not be able to cope,” he said.
“If only 1% of the 8 million smokers hired Covid-19, this means that 80,000 smokers would be infected across the country. If it is estimated that 5% would need an ICU, this would translate to approximately 4,000 people who would need hospital beds in ICU and fans across the country.
“According to current calculations, this would exceed the availability of ventilators and put health workers at risk.”
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