Richard Wilkins speaks about coronavirus diagnosis on Today

Richard Wilkins has given Today viewers an update after his shock coronavirus diagnosis as he self-quarantines at home.

Nine’s entertainment reporter Richard Wilkins made an appearance on the Today show this morning to give an update on his health after Sunday night’s announcement that he’d been diagnosed with coronavirus.

Wilkins appeared on the screen from home, where he is quarantined after testing positive for the virus.

Richard Wilkins dials in to Today.

“You could have knocked me over with a feather last night when I got the call. I feel fine. I feel 100 per cent. I don’t have a sore throat, runny nose, headache. I feel terrific. Yet I contracted the thing and tested positive for it,” Wilkins told hosts Karl Stefanovic and Ally Langdon.

There has been speculation that Wilkins contracted the disease via visiting singer Rita Wilson after meeting with her briefly at her March 7 Sydney Opera House performance.

⁦@RitaWilson⁩ was so good at the ⁦⁦@sydneyoperahous⁩e last night ! She’s on ⁦@TheTodayShow⁩ Extra tomorrow pic.twitter.com/CMJk7eWaAZ

— Richard Wilkins (@RichardWilkins) March 8, 2020

But Wilkins told his colleagues he’d been advised he was just as likely to have caught it somewhere else.

“We’re assuming this is from Rita. It may not be. They said it could be anyone, anywhere, any time, such is the prevalence of this thing,” he said.

Describing the diagnosis as “terrifying”, Wilkins appeared emotional as he described telling his children the news. “Having to call my kids and tell them this stuff wasn’t much fun. The weird thing is the only thing you want to do more than anything in the world is hug your kids at a time like this.”

Wilkins also passed on some news that he said “will blow you away”: Wilson’s band leader and guitarist, who performed onstage with her during both her Australian shows, is now back in the United States – and cannot get tested.

“He can’t get tested until he shows symptoms over there. And his wife works in a hospital. When you can’t get tested and you have been working for someone who tested positive, it’s a terrifying thought.”

Wilkins said he was now facing a nervous wait to discover if the diagnosis develops into an actual illness.

“Maybe I will get sick tomorrow. I’m waiting for something to happen. Obviously it can get worse than this, (but) if this is what it’s like then so far so good, dare I say.”

After speaking to Wilkins, the Today hosts were then joined by usual Today Extra hosts David Campbell and Belinda Russell, who are both self-isolating in their homes after close contact with Rita Wilson when she appeared on the program last Monday. Both presenters revealed that subsequent tests could not detect the presence of coronavirus.

Today Extra hosts David Campbell and Belinda Russell.

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