‘This is not a rehearsal’: NHS coronavirus staff make video plea for people to stay at home

‘We are now at a crucial time...you will only have one chance at this’

Medics on the frontline of the coronavirus outbreak have pleaded for people to stay at home in a powerful video that has gone viral.  

Doctors, nurses and physiotherapists fighting the disease in Northern Ireland warned “this is not a rehearsal” in the recording, which has been viewed 1.6 million times on Twitter since Sunday night.  

In the footage, 20 healthcare workers stand the recommended two metres apart in the atrium of Belfast‘s Mater Hospital while taking it in turn to urge people to help limit the spread of Covid-19.  

One of them, a respiratory consultant called Angela, says: “We are now at a crucial time, this is not a rehearsal, you will only have one chance at this.  

“Stay at home.” 

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It comes after many people appeared to ignore social distancing advice over the weekend, flocking to beaches, parks and pubs.  

Stormont’s deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill praised the message from Belfast Health and Social Care Trust’s respiratory team.  

“I salute you,” she tweeted. “Thank you for what you are doing. Please hear the people trying to save lives – we are in a crisis. Stay at home.”  

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon also retweeted the video, adding: “At times of crisis, health care workers stay at work for us.  

“They are asking us to stay at home for them.”  

The video was one of several social media messages posted as part of the #fightback campaign which saw sports stars and celebrities across Northern Ireland appeal to people to stay at home.  

The region’s chief medical officer, Dr Michael McBride, welcomed what he described as a “grassroots” initiative.  

“That’s the sort of spirit we all now need to embrace,” he said.  

Dr McBride expressed concern that some people are not taking the outbreak seriously enough.  

He told BBC Radio Ulster: “People should not be trivialising this disease – while it is for most a mild to moderate illness, for some it’s not. 

“There’s no point any of us looking back in two weeks and thinking ‘I wish we’d done more’.  

“We need to take steps now and over the next couple of weeks to protect our health service, so that our brothers, sisters, mums, dads, grannies and grandfathers get the care they need from the health service and to protect our healthcare workers.”  

Additional reporting by Press Association.