A new survey has found that about 2.2 million people in the UK may be smoking more than usual during the Covid-19 pandemic, with a further 4.8 million approximated to be smoking the same amount as before the pandemic, while 1.9 million are believed to have cut down, according to estimates calculated from a representative study in YouGov’s Covid-19 tracker.
It has been previously suggested that about 300,000 people in the UK quit smoking during the pandemic.
Respondents cited heightened anxiety and stress due to the lockdown and the impact of Covid-19 as reasons for their increased smoking.