Hollywood actor Tom Hanks and his wife are believed to have contracted coronavirus outside Australia, Queensland health authorities have revealed.
Hanks, 63, had arrived in the country from the US last week to shoot director Baz Luhrmann's untitled Elvis Presley biopic when he and his wife, singer and actress Rita Wilson, contracted the illness, he wrote on Instagram yesterday. During this time, the couple visited Brisbane and Sydney, before heading to the Gold Coast, Seven News reports.
The American actor described feeling "a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches", while Wilson had "some chills that came and went" and "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," he said.
"We Hanks’ will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no?"
The Academy Award-winning actor and his wife are currently being treated for Covid-19 in isolation at a hospital in the Gold Coast.
In an Instagram video posted yesterday, their son, Chet Hanks, said, "They both are fine, they’re not even that sick. They’re not worried about it, they’re not tripping, but they’re going through the necessary health precautions obviously.
“I don’t think it’s anything to be too worried about, I appreciate everyone’s concern and the well wishes but I think it’s all going to be alright.”
The couple are among the seven people confirmed to have been infected with the illness in Queensland yesterday. All seven cases are believed to have been contracted outside the country.
"At this stage, we believe all seven contracted the disease outside Australia and travelled to Queensland with the virus,” state Health Minister Steven Miles said.
Health officials are now tracing Hanks and Wilson's movements, after the pair took photos with fans at a Sydney cafe and a beach on the Gold Coast.
However, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said fans who took photos with the couple in recent days were unlikely to have been infected.
“From what the chief health officer has told me it's over 15 minutes of being in close proximity. A selfie wouldn’t count as that," Ms Palaszczuk said.
Cast and crew who worked closely with the couple will be working with health officials to self-isolate following the news.
"Our experts will work very closely with him, with Baz [Luhrmann] and all of the cast and crew and then they will self-isolate of those people who have been in that close proximity.
“I’m very confident with the physicians that we have that will be treating Tom and his wife and like I said we wish them all the very best for a speedy recovery.
“I know the thoughts of Queenslanders and all Australians are with Tom and Rita during this time.”
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