Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson in hospital ‘isolation’ after shock coronavirus announcement
- Pair are the first major US celebrities known to have contracted Covid-19
- Hanks was in Australia working on film about Elvis Presley
Hollywood megastar Tom Hanks and his singer-songwriter wife tested positive for the new coronavirus in Australia Thursday, forcing them into hospital isolation and leaving authorities to trace hundreds of contacts at their concerts and film sets.
Oscar-winning Hanks said that he and Wilson, both 63, were tested in Australia, where he is working on a film, after they felt tired and achy with slight fevers.
“To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the coronavirus and were found to be positive,” Hanks said in the tweet.
The film star said that he and Wilson would be “tested, observed and isolated” for as long as required.
Queensland state health officials said they were in isolation at the Gold Coast University Hospital.
The couple are the first major US celebrities known to have contracted Covid-19. The coronavirus has infected more than 1,000 people in the United States.
“Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no? We’ll keep the world posted and updated,” Hanks tweeted.
Hanks had travelled to Australia to begin filming an upcoming movie about Elvis Presley by Australian director Baz Luhrmann. He is set to play Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, in the Warner Bros production.
“We have been made aware that a company member from our Elvis feature film, which is currently in pre-production in The Gold Coast, Australia, has tested positive for Covid-19,” Warner Bros said in a statement.
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“We are 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 studio said.
The Warner Bros statement did not mention Hanks.
Wilson had played gigs at the Sydney Opera House and in Brisbane.
Opera House staff said they were helping authorities track “approximately 207 people” who “may have been in contact with the couple” at the concert on Saturday.
The virus microbe is known to cause pneumonia-like respiratory complications, and deaths have been higher in patients with pre-existing conditions, including hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
In 2013, Hanks revealed on The David Letterman Show that he had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes after suffering from high blood sugar since his mid-30s.
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The couple’s son Chet took to Instagram to say he had spoken with his parents on the phone and that both were fine and there was no cause for major concern.
“Yeah, it’s true, my parents got coronavirus. Crazy,” he said in a video message. “They’re not even that sick. They’re not worried about it, they’re not trippin but they’re going through the necessary health precautions obviously.”
Wilson appeared on Monday on a chat show of free-to-air broadcaster Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd. The network said employees who had been in contact with her would be tested for the coronavirus and quarantined for 14 days.
Hanks won best actor Academy Awards for his role in 1994’s Philadelphia in which he plays a man stricken with Aids, and Forrest Gump the following year. Wilson has appeared in such films as Sleepless in Seattle and Runaway Bride.
Hanks isn’t the first well-known person to contract the virus, which has infected more than 124,000 people in its spread around the world, but his case thrusts the outbreak into the celebrity realm.
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Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert also received a preliminary diagnosis of the virus, according to ESPN, while the National Basketball Association said late Wednesday it suspended games for the rest of the season. In Europe, the pathogen has infected one of the UK’s health ministers and Daniele Rugani, a soccer player with Italian club Juventus.
Wilson - who is promoting her new album “Halfway to Home” -- gave performances at a Brisbane hotel on March 5 and the Sydney Opera House on March 7. She also appeared on a popular Australian TV show whose hosts and crew are now in quarantine.
During the visit to Australia’s largest city, the couple also visited Bondi Beach. It is unknown whether they had contracted the virus by that point
Like the US, where virus infections exceeded 1,200 Wednesday, Australia is grappling with a widening outbreak.
The number of cases in Australia, home to about 25.6 million people, rose to 128 as of Thursday. Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government has enacted travel restrictions and pledged to fund 100 pop-up clinics as part of the country’s virus fight.
Reuters, Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse
