Researchers at a Paris hospital found that only 5 per cent of 482 Covid-19 patients who came to the hospital between February 28th and April 9th were habitual smokers. The results were surprising since a quarter of the French population is known to smoke.

Similar ratios were found at hospitals in the United States, China and other cities of France. Smokers elsewhere too are underrepresented in Covid-19 patients. In their report, the researchers concluded that smokers are "much less likely to suffer severe symptoms of the Sars-Cov-2", the virus that causes Covid-19.

Read full The Economist story here.