Coronavirus: Leo Varadkar to work as doctor during pandemic

Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar has rejoined the medical register and offered to work shifts to help the health service during the coronavirus crisis.

Mr Varadkar worked as a hospital doctor and as a GP before he was elected to the Dáil (Irish Parliament).

He left the medical profession in 2013, a year before he was appointed minister for health.

But he re-registered as a doctor last month, the Irish Times reported.

The paper reported that Mr Varadkar is set to work weekly shifts in an area suited to his qualifications and will be "helping out in phone assessments".

The move follows an appeal by the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) for ex-health workers who had left the profession to register for work during the pandemic.

Mr Varadkar, 41, is the Dublin-born son of an Indian doctor and an Irish nurse.

In the Republic of Ireland, the deaths of a further 21 patients who had Covid-19 were confirmed on Sunday, bringing the total death toll there to 158.