Jimmy Kimmel praises Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for returning to work as a doctor during crisis
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Jimmy Kimmel praises Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for returning to work as a doctor during crisis

US CHAT show host Jimmy Kimmel has praised An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for returning to work as a doctor in his latest video.

The star of Jimmy Kimmel Live made the comments in his latest at-home monologue, which he has been releasing regularly in lieu of his normal show since much of the US entered an effective lockdown.

Last week, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced he would be returning to work as a doctor for one shift a week to help ease the strain on the HSE, alongside his normal work as Ireland's leader during the crisis.

‘The calm before the storm’ - Leo Varadkar warns coronavirus emergency likely to go on into summer Leo Varadkar is returning to work as a doctor for one shift a week for the duration of the crisis.

He is one of tens of thousands who answered an urgent appeal from the HSE for people to offer their services, with thousands of Irish health workers returning from abroad or re-registering to fight the virus on the front lines.

Chat show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel applauded Dr Varadkar for his work yesterday, comparing it to how the leaders of other countries are faring-- including within the US.

In a segment talking about the global pandemic, Kimmel said:

"The Prime Minister of England is very ill. Boris Johnson is in intensive care right now with coronavirus."

"And the Prime Minister (Taoiseach) of Ireland is at the hospital too-- but he's there to work! Prime Minister Leo Varadkar renewed his medical license so he could volunteer as a doctor.

"Meanwhile our President (Donald Trump) is also volunteering as a doctor by arbitrarily prescribing Lupus pills and fish tank chemicals at every press conference he holds."

Kimmel's jab at President Trump is a reference to the president's repeated recommendation of the 'game-changer' malaria drug Hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus despite no proof that it works.

Check out the video of Jimmy Kimmel's newest Quarantine Monologue below.

Mr Varadkar’s involvement is also a personal one – his partner Matthew Barrett as well as his two sisters and their husbands all work within Ireland’s health service.