COVID-19 patients have indicated that current smokers are at increased risk of severe infection and death due to the coronavirus infection, they said the reasons have not been entirely clear.In the current research, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the scientists recreated what happens when the airways of a current smoker are infected with the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.The researchers utilised a platform known as an air-liquid interface culture, which is grown from unspecialised cells called human airway stem cells, and closely replicated how these behave and function in humans.The airways, which carry air breathed in from the nose and mouth to the lungs, are the body's first line of defense against airborne pathogens like.