Despite a relatively high degree of societal attention and debate spurring on the pace of COVID-19 vaccine development, the novel coronavirus pandemic has continued to remain a serious public health concern worldwide. India is reported to have lost half a million of its people to the pandemic over the past two years.
Another epidemic
But there is a silent killer in our midst that kills an estimated 1.35 million Indians every year. It is the use of tobacco as a result of which more than 3,500 Indians die every single day, as estimated by scientific studies. It also comes at a heavy cost: an annual economic burden of ₹1,77,340 crore to the country or more than 1% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
