An Australian TV journalist yesterday said he has COVID-19 and assumes he contracted it while meeting with actress-singer Rita Wilson in Sydney.
Wilson and her husband, Tom Hanks, have been isolated in an Australian hospital since they were both diagnosed with COVID-19 on Thursday.
Authorities last week said that several contacts Hanks and Wilson had in Australia were being traced, but no other results of those efforts have been made public.
Hanks had been working on a film in Australia and Wilson had concert performances in the country before they were diagnosed.
Nine Network entertainment editor Richard Wilkins said that he was tested because he met Wilson at the Sydney Opera House on March 7 and again at Nine’s Sydney studio on March 9. The result came back positive on Sunday.
“I’m surprisingly very well,” Wilkins told Nine by Facetime from his Sydney home, where he has self-isolated since Wilson’s diagnosis.
“You could’ve knocked me over with a feather last night when I got that call. It took me a couple of minutes to reel from the news that they gave me. But I feel fine. I feel 100 percent,” Wilkins added.
The 65-year-old journalist said he could only assume that he had been infected by Wilson.
“We’re assuming this is from Rita. It may not be. They’ve all said it could be anyone, anywhere, any time, such is the prevalence of this thing,” Wilkins said.
“I was having a chat to her and that’s probably my best guess as to what happened,” he added.
Wilkins was one of 37 new cases confirmed over 24 hours in New South Wales, bringing the state total to 171.
The increase was the largest for Australia’s most populous state in a day.
At least 67 cases arrived from overseas and 44 were transmitted locally, while the remainder could not be determined or were still under investigation, authorities said.
Australia has about 300 cases overall.
Wilkins’ son Christian Wilkins was tested because he spent the night of March 10 in his father’s Sydney home. The 25-year-old is competing in the Australian version of the reality TV show Dancing With the Stars, which is being broadcast without a studio audience because of the COVID-19 risk.
Two Nine hosts who interviewed Wilson in their Sydney studio on March 9, David Campbell and Belinda Russell, yesterday remained in isolation in their homes waiting on test results.
Hanks’ diagnosis prompted an outpouring of get-well wishes in Australia and Hollywood. During the couple’s isolation, Hanks has posted on social media thanking their caregivers and evoking his famous movie roles.
A recent post of a stuffed kangaroo and two slices of toast slathered in Australian favorite Vegemite was captioned “Thanks to the Helpers.”
The advice for children to look to “helpers” in scary times is credited to American children’s TV host Mr Rogers, whom Hanks portrayed in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
Hanks had been in Queensland shooting an Elvis Presley biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS