Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson test positive for coronavirus

Oscar-winner and wife in Gold Coast area while making film about life of Elvis Presley

Actor Tom Hanks has said on social media that he and his wife Rita Wilson have both tested positive for coronavirus in Australia. The 63-year-old actor says that he and Wilson are working on a film in the country.

Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks and his actor wife, Rita Wilson have tested positive for coronavirus in Australia.

Hanks said in a Twitter post that he and Wilson, who are both 63, were tested in Australia, where he is working on a film, after they felt tired and achy with 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,” Hanks said in the tweet.

The film star said that he and Wilson would be “tested, observed and isolated” for as long as required.

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The couple are the first major US celebrities known to have contracted Covid-19. The coronavirus has infected more than 125,000 people globally.

“Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no? We’ll keep the world posted and updated,” Hanks tweeted.

Hanks had traveled to Australia to begin filming an upcoming movie about Elvis Presley. He is set to play Presley’s manager, Col Tom Parker, in the Warner Bros production.

“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,” Warner Bros said in a statement, without naming the person.

“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 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 studio said.

The Warner Bros statement did not mention Hanks.

It was not immediately clear if filming on the project would be postponed due to the actor’s illness.

Hanks won best actor Academy Awards for his role in 1994’s Philadelphia, in which he plays a man stricken with Aids, and Forrest Gump the following year. Wilson has appeared in such films as Sleepless in Seattle and Runaway Bride. -Reuters.