Nicotine could protect people from contracting the coronavirus, according to new research in France, where further trials are planned to test whether the substance could be used to prevent or treat the deadly illness.
The findings come after researchers at a top Paris hospital examined 343 coronavirus patients along with 139 people infected with the illness with milder symptoms.
They found that a low number of them smoked, compared to smoking rates of around 35 percent in France's general population. "Among these patients, only five percent were smokers," said Zahir Amoura, the study's co-author and a professor of internal medicine.