Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Saurav Dutt smoked up to six cigarettes a day.

According to a recent survey by the UK charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), conducted between April 15 to June 20, more than one million people in Britain have given up smoking.

Of those poeple, almost half (41%) said it was a direct response to heightened health concerns during the coronavirus pandemic, the study added.

In the last few months, researchers have been trying to find out how strong the link between smokers and severe coronavirus cases really is.

Another study published last month by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that one in three young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 are at higher risk of having severe COVID-19 cases, with smoking habits playing a big part.

Patients are considered vulnerable if they have at least one risk factor set out by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including health conditions and smoking habits.

The study by ASH found that of the 1 million people who quit between April and June, 400,000 were aged between 16 and 25.

Cheeseman said that ASH's findings have been "surprising" considering it is older people who are more at risk of contracting the coronavirus.