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- The veteran actor Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Deadline reported on Wednesday.
- Hanks' publicist later confirmed the news to the freelance journalist Yashar Ali.
- The World Health Organization officially classified coronavirus, which leads to a disease called COVID-19, as a pandemic on Wednesday.
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Veteran actor Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Deadline reported on Wednesday. Hanks' publicist also confirmed the news to the freelance journalist Yashar Ali.
"Hello, folks. Rita and I are down here in Australia," Hanks said in a statement to Deadline. "We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too."
Hanks and his wife were in The Gold Coast, Australia, for the pre-production of Baz Luhrmann's untitled Elvis Presley film, in which Hanks stars as Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker, according to the Deadline report.
In a statement posted to Twitter, the actor said he and his wife were tested for the coronavirus after experiencing symptoms and came up positive.
"We Hanks' will be tested observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires," Hanks added in a statement. "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!"
Warner Bros. said in a statement that it is aware of the coronavirus case and will be "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 production company said in the statement. "The individual who tested positive for COVID-19 is currently receiving treatment."
The World Health Organization officially classified coronavirus, which leads to a disease called COVID-19, as a pandemic on Wednesday. More than 125,000 people have been infected across the globe and there have been more than 4,500 deaths.
In Australia, there are 128 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the country, and three people have died from the disease. In the US, at least 1,300 people in 41 states and Washington, D.C., have tested positive for the virus as of Wednesday, according to The New York Times, and at least 37 patients have died from it.
On Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump announced that the US will ban all travel from Europe except for the United Kingdom, with the exception of Americans who have been appropriately screened, for thirty days beginning on Friday at midnight.
Financial markets have also plunged as the virus continues to spread and more and more countries implement restrictions on travel and day-to-day work.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by more than 1,800 points after the opening bell on Monday, and the S&P 500 tanked by seven percent, triggering a fail-safe that suspended all trading for 15 minutes.
The Dow fell another 1,465 points into a bear market on Wednesday after the WHO declared the coronavirus a pandemic, marking the end of the longest bull-market expansion in history.
All three major indexes tanked roughly 5%, erasing gains made during Tuesday's rebound. The drop ushered in another day of heightened volatility from coronavirus risks and the escalating oil-market war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
"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 (coronavirus). "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 (coronavirus).
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- Tom Hanks (@tomhanks) March 12, 2020