WEIGHT loss surgery could be a quick fix to reduce severe cases of the coronavirus, doctors said today.
Being overweight can increase the risk of other health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, and patients with such issues have been found to be at a higher risk of contracting Covid-19.
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Just yesterday the health secretary Matt Hancock said the government was bringing plans forward to tackle obesity.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also said to be preparing an intervention as he believes his weight was a key factor in how serious his illness had become when he had the virus.
Now the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) has urged Mr Johnson to back an increase in bariatric operations.
Bariatric surgery can include various procedures and the aim of the surgery is to help the patient lose weight by altering the digestive system.
Some surgeries will make your stomach smaller, restricting your food intake in order to curb the amount you consume.
As type 2 diabetes is a risk factor for the virus, BOMSS has said there is evidence that the treatment can aid weight loss within 12 weeks and reverse type 2 diabetes.
The society has already produced a number of guides to help people stay active, as bariatric surgery is one procedure that has ceased since the Covid-19 outbreak.
In a letter to Mr Johnson BOMSS said: Bariatric surgery is often viewed as a quick-fix solution... precisely what is needed if we are to avoid needless suffering, ICU admission and death in patients with obesity who subsequently become infected with.
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In the UK bariatric surgery has been stopped for up to six months in order to help the NHS cope with the virus.
So far in the UK over 34,000 people have died from the virus and Mr Johnson is believed to have become convinced that his weight was a key factor in the severity of his illness.
On entering hospital he is said to have weighed over 17 stone.
President Professor David Kerrigan said: "Bariatric surgery may be unpopular with health planners who hope that our obesity epidemic will be resolved through obesity prevention programmes; but important though these are, they do nothing to help to two million UK adults who could benefit from surgery according to NICE.
"They require treatment not prevention and as many have repeatedly failed to benefit from diet and exercise programmes we should consider the alternative of surgery, a safe treatment the benefits of which are rapidly realised by the patient."
When it comes to catching the virus, experts have said that excess body fat matters more than other underlying health conditions.
A study from New York, one of the worst-hit cities in the world, suggested that obesity was the second strongest predictor over whether or not a patient with the virus would need critical care.
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This is while other data from previous influenza type illnesses found that more people died if they were overweight.
In 2009, 51 per cent of Californians who died from H1N1 Influenza were obese.
Currently in the UK almost 6,000 bariatric operations are performed every year, helping people to control their weight.
The NHS has however stated that bariatric surgery is no substitute for prevention but admitted that there are concerns around restarting elective surgery.
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