Coronavirus: Parents organise drive-by birthday party for 12-year-old girl in isolation

Video posted on Twitter shows cars driving past hooting to wish child birthday wishes

(Twitter/KatieKins76)

A 12-year-old Irish girl in isolation due to the coronavirus outbreak has celebrated her birthday with a drive-by.

Katie, whose mother shared a video of the event on Twitter, is seen standing in her driveway on her birthday when cars suddenly start driving past hooting their horns.

Katie’s mother and father can be heard in the background thanking the people driving by, who were a mix of the child’s friends and neighbours.

“So my daughter, Katie, had her 12th birthday today,” Katie’s mother tweeted alongside the video.

“She couldn’t have any friends over so we arranged a birthday drive by with all her friends as a surprise for her.

“Best bunch of friends ever!!”

The video has gone viral, garnering more than 987,000 views and thousands of retweets and comments from people sharing their birthday wishes to Katie.

“That is the loveliest thing to organise and to have such wonderful people in your life to do this,” tweeted one person in response. “Well done. Happy Birthday Katie.”

Another added: “Wow !!! This I love. To celebrate Katie’s Birthday, she gets her very own personal Drive-By!!

“What great friends...what a great community!! Happy Birthday Katie!”

Katie's birthday drive-by comes after another young girl celebrated her eighth birthday with her entire street singing "Happy Birthday" to her.

Like Katie, Sophia Thomas was unable to celebrate her birthday as normal following the government’s announcement last week that people should stay home.

However, Sophia's parents Rob, 42, and Alison, 46, made a plan to create a special surprise for their daughter on the big day.

Mr and Mrs Thomas asked their neighbours on a joint street Facebook group if they could wish her Happy Birthday or drop a card through the front door.

But their neighbourhood went one step further when the entire street assembled outside Sophia's home to sing to her on 25 March.