'Smokers highly vulnerable to coronavirus'.

ABBOTTABAD -- Smokers are more vulnerable to coronavirus than non-smokers as regular smoking damages defence cells in the respiratory tract, said a medical researcher here on Thursday.

Dr Ayub Jadoon,assistant professor of immunology and microbiology inAbbottabad University of Science and Technology, told reporters about his research on the matter and said chemicals such as nicotine were highly toxic to the cilia.

'Cilia actually are hair-like substances present as projections of the surface cells in the respiratory tract. These cells have the ACE2 receptors for Sars and Covid-19. The cilia and mucous do not allow the virus to bind to its receptors. If the virus binds to its receptors, then it enters cells and produces hundreds more if not thousands,' he said.

Dr Jadoon said the newly-produced viruses later captured and entered the neighbouring cells, where further exponential growth of the virus occurred.

'This leads to the destruction of these cells followed by...