Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Arrivals, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, USA – 19 Jan 2020
Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson test positive for coronavirus, or COVID-19, becoming the first celebrities to go public with the information.
Tom announced the news himself on Instagram, saying, “Hello, folks. Rita and I are down here in Australia. 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.”
He added, “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 require. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no?”
Tom ended the post saying, “We’ll keep the world posted and updated,” before telling everyone to “take care of yourselves!”
The couple was in Australia to shoot an untitled Elvis Presley movie, directed by Baz Luhrmann.
Coronavirus in the Philippines
In the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday that it confirmed 16 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 49.
DOH assured that the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) can perform 300 tests per day. If cases continue to increase, they can mobilize their partnership with the University of the Philippines – National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH).
the UP-NIH developed a test kit that can quickly detect the virus. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already approved the kit, and will only need the approval from WHO’s “emergency use listing” so it can be rolled out.