LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Global progress in policies to reduce tobacco use slowed for the first time in 12 years following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to analysis published on Wednesday by the Global Tobacco Control Progress Hub, which warned millions of people worldwide likely continued to smoke as a result.

The hub, a collaboration between the non-profit Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Canada and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, tracks the enactment of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a global treaty aimed at reducing smoking.