Visitors, patients and staff at Fife’s healthcare sites have been urged to stop smoking to prevent the spread of coronavirus, amid fears cigarette litter may be contributing to the pandemic.
Concerns have been raised about people picking up and smoking other people’s discarded cigarette butts, which is common practice and another potential route of Covid-19 transmission.
Sharing and trading of cigarettes is also a worry in the current climate, prompting NHS Fife to curb the opportunities people have to smoke in and around the region’s medical locations.
A spokesperson for NHS Fife said: “We’re working hard to reduce the spread of Covid-19 infection.
“You can help by ensuring that our grounds are free from cigarette litter that may have been discarded by those unaware that they have Covid-19.”
The problem of cigarette litter is understood to be particularly problematic at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital, where people continue to ignore no smoking signs near the main entrance.
Smoking is not allowed in the grounds, including gardens, footpaths, car parks, staff residential areas, bus stops or any vehicle.
Staff have also been told they should not smoke in uniform or working clothes during working hours.
Evidence from the COVID Symptom Study, which studied more than three million people across the UK, US and Sweden, confirmed smokers are at an increased risk from Covid-19 and more likely to be hospitalised with the disease.
Current smokers were 14% more likely to develop the three classic symptoms of coronavirus infection – fever, persistent cough and shortness of breath – than non-smokers.
Smokers were also 29% more likely to report more than five symptoms associated with COVID-19 and 50% more likely to report more than 10, including loss of smell, skipping meals, tiredness, diarrhoea, confusion or muscle pain.
In addition, smokers were more than twice as likely as non-smokers to end up in hospital with severe symptoms of Covid-19 having tested positive for the disease.
