Actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita have taken to social media to update their followers about their status following a coronavirus diagnosis.
The couple first broke the news about their COVID-19 diagnosis on Instagram earlier this week, uploading a photograph of a rubber glove lying in a trash bin.
The actor's son has spoken out about his mom and dad's diagnosis on his Instagram:Hanks captioned the picture: "Hello, folks. @ritawilson 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 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."
The Academy-Award-winning actor and his spouse have now given their fans their first update on the situation. Posting a picture of the two of themselves together, Hanks wrote: "Hello folks. @ritawilson and I want to thank everyone here Down Under who are taking such good care of us. We have Covid-19 and are in isolation so we do not spread it to anyone else."
He added: "There are those for whom it could lead to a very serious illness. We are taking it one-day-at-a-time. There are things we can all do to get through this by following the advice of experts and taking care of ourselves and each other, no? Remember, despite all the current events, there is no crying in baseball. Hanx [sic]"
In a report from the World Health Organization yesterday, they declared that the COVID-19 outbreak is now being officially recognized as a pandemic:
"WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic."
Some fans believe that Hanks' diagnosis was predicted in this Simpsons episode:
The statement continued: "Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death."
At the time of writing, there have now been more than 135,166 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 114 countries, and 4,990 people have lost their lives.