'Everyone has a part to play' - Rugby star urges public to follow HSE advice during coronavirus outbreak

Munster and Ireland rugby player Keith Earls made a passionate appeal to the public to listen to the advice of medical professional during the coronavirus outbreak.

Earls, who has been capped over 80 times for Ireland, spoke about how his daughter has a serious respiratory lung condition and that while he will do all he can to keep her safe, everyone needs to have a better attitude to protect those who are vulnerable.

"As a father of a child with a serious respiratory lung condition (and) many others like her, I urge the public to please listen to the professionals. I will do everything I can to protect her," Earls wrote in a post on Twitter.

"Everyone has a part to play. I'm usually a private person but the actions of some people (are) really starting to worry me.

"This is an extremely worrying (and) scary time and we all need to take immediate action. Please."

The message was positively received with many thankful that high-profile people were echoing the message about the importance of social distancing during the outbreak.

"Thanks Keith for using your profile to get this vital message across," one person wrote.

Many others shared their personal stories about trying to take care of vulnerable loved ones as calls continue for the government to order pubs and restaurants to shut down.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said his Government is likely to seek greater enforcement powers to stop mass gatherings in pubs and clubs.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said a direction from the government telling pubs to close “would suffice” rather than seeking new laws to order them shut.

Last night, #CloseThePubs trended on social media after news emerged that a second person had died from the coronavirus in Ireland.

Numerous pubs around the country had already chosen to close, some for the foreseeable future, in a effort to help prevent further spread of Covid-19 as there are fears that it is near-impossible to follow the social distancing protocol in a pub environment.

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