Celebrity couple among seven new coronavirus cases in Qld

Queensland Health has released details of seven new coronavirus cases in the state, including Tom Hanks and his wife.

QUEENSLAND health authorities believe the state’s seven latest cases of coronavirus all contracted the disease overseas, including American actor Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson.

The new diagnoses take the number of people who have had COVID-19 in Queensland to 27.

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Hanks and Wilson, both in their 60s, are listed to be in stable conditions in the Gold Coast University Hospital, where they are in quarantine.

Citing patient confidentiality, Queensland Health director-general John Wakefield would not confirm the celebrity couple’s identity at a news conference today.

Gold Coast University Hospital, where Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson are in quarantine. Photo: Bradley Kanaris, Getty Images.

Instead, he said: “Whether you’re from Hollywood or Helensvale, you will get great care in our healthcare system and we will look after you.”

Health Minister Steven Miles added that the infectious diseases ward at the Gold Coast hospital was “one of the best in the world”, designed by doctors who were involved in the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, another strain of coronavirus, which resulted in more than 700 deaths internationally earlier this century.

“The one thing I can reassure Queenslanders is that if you are going to get sick, if you are going to get COVID-19 anywhere in the world, Queensland is where you would want to get it,” Mr Miles said.

“We are very well equipped to deal with this disease.”

Queensland Health director-general Dr John Wakefield (front) with Health Minister Steven Miles, speaking at a news conference regarding the state’s seven new COVID-19 cases. Photo: John Gass/AAP

Of the five other cases of COVID-19 confirmed today in Queensland, one is a 19-year-old man who is a close contact of a Brisbane university student, 22, who had recently returned from Spain, Italy and France.

Both are listed in a stable condition in The Prince Charles Hospital, where they have been placed in quarantine.

A 40-year-old man is in the same hospital with the novel coronavirus after returning from the UK.

Dr Wakefield said a man, 37, and a woman, 56, were both in isolation in the Princess Alexandra Hospital after returning from overseas. The man had travelled from Geneva, in Switzerland, through Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and the woman had recently returned from Indonesia.

A 24-year-old is in the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital with COVID-19 after having returned from the US.

Dr Wakefield said most of Queensland’s COVID-19 cases so far had experienced “relatively mild disease”.

But he said at least two cases had experienced symptoms that were “a little more severe”.

He repeated requests for anyone who fell ill within 14 days of returning from overseas to seek medical advice and be tested for COVID-19.

They should always phone ahead to the general practice, hospital emergency department or pathology testing laboratory to allow measures to be put in place to protect other patients and staff.

Despite the numbers of Queensland cases growing daily, Mr Miles said health authorities believed the state was yet to see community transmission of the new disease.

“There is no need now to cancel large-scale events and no need for people to be concerned other than those who have travelled to those high-risk countries who shouldn’t attend events like that,” Mr Miles said.

“We don’t have community transmission in Queensland now and so events can continue to proceed.”

For more information, call 13 HEALTH.

QUEENSLAND’S 27 CONFIRMED CORONAVIRUS CASES:

* 5 cases were from a tour group originating in Wuhan, China – a boy, 8, men aged 37 and 44 and women aged 37 and 42.

* 3 cases were from the Diamond Princess cruise ship. They tested positive after being evacuated to Darwin and then flown back to Queensland Hospitals for treatment. All are women aged 54, 55 and 57.

* 3 cases are people returned from Iran – a woman aged 63 and men aged 26 and 28.

* 1 case is a 20-year-old Chinese University of Queensland student who returned to Brisbane via Dubai.

* 1 case is a man who returned from Thailand, aged 81.

* 1 case is a woman who returned to Brisbane from London, with a short stopover in Singapore, aged 29.

* 2 cases from the Sunshine Coast hinterland, a couple aged 38 and 42. The 38-year-old had recently returned from London via Dubai.

* 1 case is a woman who travelled to Austria and France, aged 46.

* 2 cases involving a university student who travelled to Spain, Italy and France. A 19-year-old developed COVID-19 after close contact with the 22-year-old student.

* 2 cases are a woman who travelled to the United States of America, and a man who is a close contact of this woman, both aged in their early 30s.

* 2 cases are the celebrity couple Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson, both in their 60s, who recently travelled from the US.

* 1 case is a 37-year-old man from Brisbane who had recently travelled from Geneva, Switzerland, through Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

* 1 case is a 40-year-old man from Brisbane who had recently returned from the UK.

* 1 case is a 24-year-old man from Brisbane who had recently returned from the US.

* 1 case is a 56-year-old woman who had recently returned from Indonesia.