FORMER St Helens prop Mose Masoe is heading home from hospital, but says he does not feel ready.

Now the Hull Kingston Rovers co-captain is urging the public to stay at home after becoming a victim of the ripple effect of coronavirus.

The Wellington-born 30-year-old, who played two seasons for Saints after signing from NRL club Penrith Panthers in 2014, has made remarkable progress in his recovery from a serious spinal injury sustained while playing for the Robins in a pre-season friendly in January.

But he was told on Monday morning that he would be leaving Pinderfields Hospital this week and must continue his rehabilitation at home, which he is now doing.

Only recently did the Samoan man-mountain start walking with the assistance of parallel bars and is hoping to be able to walk unassisted soon.

“They’ve had to clear out a lot of wards to get in the people who have coronavirus so a lot of us have had to go home,” he said.

“I’m not really ready to go home at all. It will be nice to spend some time with my kids but there’s a lot of things I can’t do myself, like going to the toilet and things like that. I don’t want to put a burden on my missus.

“When you get a spinal injury we’re at a high risk. A lot of people forget our immune systems drop.

“One: they’re worried about us catching it while we’re in here because the hospital is getting fuller and two: they’re trying to clear out the wards for people with coronavirus.

“We need people to stay home so we can get back into the hospital to do rehab. People need to stop being selfish because we’ve felt the effects already.

“It’s the first time in the world you can save lives by just staying home watching TV or playing PlayStation. That’s my frustration with people who aren’t listening.

“My wife is pregnant so they’ve all been staying home and she’s only going out to get food. They’ve been doing the right thing and staying away. I haven’t seen them for two weeks.

“We knew we had to do that because it’s safer for everyone. We both thought it was the best thing to do.

“I’m gutted to be going home because I wanted to keep my progression going. The next step was to go from parallel bars to a walking frame to crutches and then you can pretty much walk by yourself.”

Masoe is unable to take equipment home with him due to limited resources at the hospital in Wakefield but Hull KR and the RFL Benevolent Fund are hoping to help on that front.

Typically, Masoe is more concerned about his fellow patients.

“I actually feel sorry for the other patients in here, like the elderly patients and some patients who have just got here who are going to miss out on the rehab and all the things you need in your first few months to try get things back,” he said.

“You’ve got a certain amount of time to get things back and you need the help of the doctors and the physios. Every day counts. A lot of them are just going to go home or into care homes now.

“I’ve got a lot of support but a lot of people in here won’t have as much support as I have.

“My missus tried to get a stair lift and the Benevolent Fund have pretty much said they’ll sort that for me.

“I’m very lucky and grateful to have the support and that network but I feel real sorry for the other patients that don’t have that. It’ll be tough for them.”