Covid-19 spread: SPARC for raising tobacco price to deal with respiratory diseases

Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) has suggested the government to increase tobacco price to deal with respiratory diseases and spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
SPRAC, in its statement said that Pakistan is amongst the developing countries with a very high tobacco prevalence and high mortality rate, where above 166,000 people die of tobacco-related diseases every year in Pakistan. 70 percent of those get damaged lungs due to second-hand smoke at indoor places. If these stats weren't alarming enough, the current global pandemic of COVID-19 also known as Coronavirus has further burdened the public health of the country.
According to World Health Organization, smokers are at a high risk of suffering from severe symptoms of Coronavirus due to an already compromised respiratory system.
SPARC is of the view that unfortunately, the virus which has affected the entire world has no vaccine at the moment and is only expected to come about 12-18 months later. The pandemic has further burdened the health care system of developing countries like Pakistan. Every rupee spent to counter this virus means that government is reducing the expenditure allocated to counter other diseases which still exist in the country.-PR