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We investigated whether there was an increased interest in quitting smoking in late February, March, and April compared with the preceding weeks. The interest in the search term 'how to quit smoking' showed significant increase on 9 March (90 RSV) and the interest in the search term reached 100 RSV on 19 April (Fig. 1). The interest in the search term 'how to quit alcohol' showed significant increase on 11 February (100 RSV). However, the interest for both the search terms was not stable over the study period (Fig. 1). Our study results showed no consistent increase in the number of searches for quitting smoking or quitting alcohol on Google during the study period (February to May). A recent study analyzing Google Trends regarding smoking cessation searches worldwide during the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak (9 January 2020 and 6 April 2020) also failed to show a tendency for increased interest in any of the key terms related to smoking cessation ('quit smoking,' 'smoking cessation,' 'help quit smoking,' and 'nicotine gum'). 8 However, another study from the Netherlands showed a significant increase in RSV 1 to 4 weeks after the introduction of the smoking ban in restaurants and bars in 2008, and also after the introduction of smoking cessation support in 2011. 10 Our study results may indicate that there has been no significant increased interest in quitting smoking and alcohol, at least among the Indian population who use online resources for health-related information. Our results further highlight the need for continuing public health efforts to inform the Indian public regarding the negative effects of smoking and alcohol during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, our study results were preliminary, and further research is needed to determine the long-term trend and compare it to the results of other studies.