One Direction star Louis Tomlinson has sent a message to his home town of Doncaster encouraging locals to “keep safe” and help where possible during the coronavirus pandemic.

Doncaster Council’s Twitter account shared the musician’s video message on Friday morning, adding “You can take the boy out of Doncaster…”

In his message, Tomlinson shared details of council resources locals could access during lockdown, and encouraged people to help by taking paid and unpaid roles.

“First of all I wanted to say that I’m thinking of all of you in my home town of Doncaster,” Tomlinson said.

“I wanted to send you a personal message to wish you all well in this terrible time. I hope you’re looking after yourselves, I hope you’re looking after each other, and staying at home.

“Doncaster is known for its community spirit, Yorkshire grit and determination, and it’s been great to see so much of that during this tough time.

“With more weeks in lockdown it’s even more important than ever that we keep this spirit going and rally round to support the most vulnerable.

“So here is how you can help if you’re able to. More volunteers are needed to support local people, from answering phones to delivering food parcels.

“I know the good people of Doncaster will answer this call to help others.

“There are also paid jobs available with full training provided.”

Doncaster Council received thousands of interactions upon sharing the video, but it’s not the first time they have gone viral during the pandemic.

Earlier in April the council entertained people with their cautionary tale of an exploding whale in Oregon, USA.

“In November 1970, officials in Oregon, USA decided to blow up a rotting whale carcass. The whole thing went horribly wrong,” the council wrote.

“Why do we bring this up? Well, this story can teach us 3 things about #coronavirus”.

The thread of posts received tens of thousands of likes as well as hundreds of replies.