Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Deadline first reported on Wednesday. Hanks confirmed the couple’s diagnosis.
“Hello, folks. Rita and I are down here in Australia,” he said in a statement to Deadline that he also posted on Twitter. “We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too.”
Hanks and Wilson were in the Gold Coast, Australia, for the preproduction of Baz Luhrmann’s untitled Elvis Presley film, in which Hanks stars as Presley’s manager Colonel Tom Parker, according to the Deadline report.
In the statement posted to Twitter, the actor said he and his wife were tested for the coronavirus after experiencing symptoms and came up positive.
“We Hanks’ will be tested observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires,” Hanks added. “Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no? We’ll keep the world posted and updated. Take care of yourselves!
Warner Bros. said in a statement that it was aware of the coronavirus case and would be “working closely with the appropriate Australian health agencies to identify and contact anyone who may have come in direct contact with the individual.”
“The health and safety of our company members is always our top priority, and we are taking precautions to protect everyone who works on our productions around the world,” the production company said in the statement. “The individual who tested positive for COVID-19 is currently receiving treatment.”
Hanks and Wilson’s son Chet responded to his parents’ diagnoses in a video, saying they were “fine” and “not even that sick.”
The World Health Organisation on Wednesday officially classified the novel coronavirus, which leads to a disease called COVID-19, as a pandemic. More than 125,000 people have been infected across the globe, and there have been more than 4,500 deaths.
There are 128 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Australia, including three deaths. In the US, at least 1,300 people in 41 states and Washington, DC, had tested positive for the virus as of Wednesday, according to The New York Times, with at least 37 deaths.
On Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump announced new temporary travel restrictions between the US and most of Europe.
Financial markets have also plunged as the virus continues to spread and more countries implement restrictions on travel and day-to-day work.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by more than 1,800 points after the opening bell on Monday, and the S&P 500 tanked by 7%, triggering a fail-safe that suspended all trading for 15 minutes.
The Dow fell another 1,465 points into a bear market on Wednesday after the WHO declared the coronavirus a pandemic, marking the end of the longest bull-market expansion in history.
All three major indexes tanked roughly 5%, erasing gains made during Tuesday’s rebound. The drop ushered in another day of heightened volatility from coronavirus risks and the escalating oil-market war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
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