Tom Hanks hospitalised with coronavirus

TOM Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson are in an Australian hospital after contracting coronavirus.

The actor issued a statement on Thursday saying they had felt run down with fevers and body aches, and so presented themselves to hospital for testing.

The news came as the World Health Organisation finally declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

Hanks is in Australia filming a Baz Lurhmann biopic on Elvis Presley on the Gold Coast.

Last Thursday, singer-songwriter Wilson performed at the ballroom of the Emporium Hotel South Bank in Brisbane. Their son Truman was in the audience.

She then performed at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday night.

Hanks said in his statement they would remain in isolation “for as long as public health and safety requires”.

“Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time-approach, no?”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said people who had taken ‘selfies’ with Hanks over the past few days should not panic about contracting the virus.

She said a person had to be in close contact with someone who has the virus for at least 15 minutes to be at risk, however cast and crew on the set of the biopic were being seen by health officials.

“They (Hanks and Wilson) will be getting the best treatment in our hospitals,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

Hanks arrived on the Gold Coast in late January although he returned to the US to attend the Oscars held on February 10.

The 63-year-old’s health issue is the second setback for the big budget Warner Brothers film at Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast.

The studios were inundated after a major deluge in January which pushed production back until the first week of March.

There was better news in Western Australia, however, with health minister Roger Cook saying no new cases of the potentially deadly virus had been detected in the state overnight.