The NCD Alliance invited media representatives to an on-the-record briefing on COVID-19 and NCDs: Lessons learned from around the world. 

The media telebriefing took place on 29th April 2020 and provided an opportunity to discuss best practices and lessons learned so far in selected countries. This included:

• Emerging evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic shows many intersections between COVID-19 and NCDs. People living with NCDs (PLWNCDs) are more vulnerable to COVID-19, with a substantially higher risk of becoming severely ill or dying from the virus;
• People with COVID-19 infection and cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes are at least twice as likely to die;
• Smoking is especially deadly – the evidence base is clearly still in development, but one study found that smokers have 14 times greater odds of developing COVID-associated pneumonia than non-smokers;
• People with comprised immune systems (ongoing cancer treatment, diabetes, COPD, people on steroid treatment, etc.) are at higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19;
• People living with three or more co-morbidities (hypertension, diabetes, COPD/asthma, TB, obesity, smokers) are at higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19.