Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson test positive for coronavirus in Australia

Actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson have tested positive for coronavirus while in Australia, but health authorities say they caught the illness overseas.

Queensland health authorities believe Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson could have contracted the coronavirus overseas and brought it into Australia.

On Thursday the Hollywood megastar announced the couple had tested positive for coronavirus while in Australia in an Instagram post.

“Hello, folks. Rita and I are down here in Australia,” he wrote.

“We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too. 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 continued, “Well, now. What to do next? The Medical Officials have protocols that must be followed. 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? We’ll keep the world posted and updated. Take care of yourselves! Hanx!”

Queensland Health officials said that all seven new cases reported today, including Hanks and Wilson, “contracted the illness outside Australia and travelled to Queensland with the virus”.

Queensland Health director-general John Wakefield did not confirm the couple’s identity today but said “whether you’re from Hollywood or Helensvale, you will get great care in our healthcare system and we will look after you.”

Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles said the infectious diseases unit at the Gold Coast hospital where the couple are being treated is “one of the best in the world.”

“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,” the Courier Mail reported Mr Miles as saying.

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

Hanks and Wilson had recently returned from the US, where they attended the Oscars, but had been back in Australia for at least a week.

The Hollywood power couple are both aged 63.

Current data suggest the COVID-19 mortality rate for those aged 60-69 is about 3.6 per cent. The total mortality rate is about 4.7 per cent for men compared with 2.8 per cent for women.

Hanks also suffers from type-two diabetes.

The two-time Oscar winner is currently on the Gold Coast filming Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the couple, who are now in isolation at Gold Coast Hospital in a stable condition, would “be getting the best treatment in our hospitals just as we provide to everybody else”.

“I’m very confident with the physicians we have, they will be treating Tom and his wife. We wish them all the best for a speedy recovery,” she told reporters this afternoon.

“Our experts will now work very closely with him, with Baz and all of the cast and crew and then those who have been in close proximity will self-isolate.”

Ms Palaszczuk said the current advice from the state’s chief health officer was that the risk was for those who had “over 15 minutes of being in very close proximity”.

“So a selfie wouldn’t count as that,” she said. “It clearly shows the coronavirus knows no boundaries so everyone let’s do the right thing, let’s follow our health authorities.”

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson in Sydney.

Warner Bros said in a statement to Deadline it had 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”.

“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 statement said.

“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 individual who tested positive for COVID-19 is currently receiving treatment.”

Hanks touched down on the Gold Coast on January 26 and was rumoured to be staying at Peppers Broadbeach — in the same building as a Chinese national who was one of Australia’s first coronavirus cases.

The 44-year-old was confirmed to have the virus on January 29 after being rushed to hospital by paramedics on Tuesday, January 28. The man had recently returned from Wuhan and was travelling with his wife and child.

Hotel group Accor said he was a resident at the Oracle building but not a guest at Peppers Broadbeach, which is located in the building.

“We have been closely monitoring the situation and have implemented additional hygiene procedures, including cleaning and disinfection as outlined by the authorities,” Accor said in a statement at the time.

Hanks’ security team were spotted by local paparazzi at the resort — which is popular with celebrities — but it was never confirmed he was staying there.

Peppers Broadbeach has been contacted for comment.

Paramedics and police were called to the Gold Coast’s Oracle building on January 28 where Queensland’s first coronavirus case was discovered. Tom Hanks was rumoured to be staying at Peppers Broadbeach, which is in the same building. Picture: Mega Agency

Production on the film, based at Oxenford Studio on the northern Gold Coast, has been shut down. In a letter to crew and actors this morning, Mr Luhrmann said a crew member had tested positive for coronavirus and advised everyone to stay home.

“We request all cast and crew stay at home today and not come to work,” he said in the letter seen by the Gold Coast Bulletin.

“All work activity on the production is cancelled and will not resume until further notice. We appreciate everyone’s co-operation and we will be following up with more details over the next several hours.”

Hanks is playing Presley’s long-time manager Colonel Tom Parker in the film. Presley is played by 27-year-old Austin Butler, who recently appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

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As of this afternoon Australia has around 150 cases of the coronavirus, with 27 in Queensland including Hanks and Wilson.

They have visited a number of travel hot spots in recent days and recently returned from Sydney. Wilson performed on Today Extra at the Channel 9 studios in Willoughby earlier this week.

It’s understood staff who had contact with her have been sent home.

“We are taking all the appropriate precautions according to the government guidelines and supporting our people,” a Nine spokesman said.

Kids sock, washed ashore. Lost ashore. Bondi Beach. New South Wales. Hanx. pic.twitter.com/wI2c08UNm6

— Tom Hanks (@tomhanks) March 7, 2020

Wilson also performed at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday night.

Prior to that she performed at the Emporium Hotel in Brisbane last Thursday.

“Singer-songwriter and Hollywood actress and producer, Rita Wilson will make her Sydney Opera House debut, performing songs from her new album, Halfway to Home — a unique blend of Southern Californian rock meets Nashville country,” the blurb on the website reads.

A Sydney Opera House spokeswoman said the performance in the Utzon Room was attended by roughly 207 people, including Hanks.

“Following news that the couple have tested positive for coronavirus in Queensland, the Opera House is in touch with NSW Health and Queensland Health and will be acting on their advice,” the spokeswoman said.

“This includes getting in touch with anyone, including patrons and staff, who may have been in contact with the couple while at the Opera House.”

The spokeswoman said the Opera House had a number of measures in place including “additional on-site cleaning with hospital-grade disinfectant and providing hand sanitiser throughout the building”.

She added, “The health and safety of everyone on site is always our number one priority. Our site remains open and tours and performances will proceed as planned, unless otherwise advised.”

Hanks and Wilson starred together in the 1993 romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle. They met on the set of the 1980s TV show Bosom Buddies and married in 1988. They have two sons, Chester and Truman.

“It’s true, my parents got coronavirus — crazy,” Chet said in a video on Instagram.

“I just got off the phone with them. They both are fine, 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. But 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 all right.”

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