Health authorities descend on Queensland hotel

The hotel where Tom Hanks is believed to have stayed before confirming the news he and wife Rita Wilson had tested positive for coronavirus, is the same hotel that had cases of the virus in late January.

Tom is the first celebrity confirmed to have the highly contagious virus that has snowballed into a global pandemic, with the actor confirming the news in a statement on Wednesday.

“We felt a bit tired like we had colds, and some body aches,” he wrote.

“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.”

Tom is believed to have been staying at the Peppers Resort Broadbeach during his visit to Australia. It’s the same hotel the first man to test positive for the virus in Queensland had been staying in earlier this year.

The man, a Chinese national, was part of a tour group, the members of which were isolated in separate hospital rooms “as a precaution” at the time.

However a 42-year-old woman from Wuhan, who was also part of the same group, then also tested positive.

Photos taken on the 28th of January show police arriving at the hotel, as well as people wearing face masks and hazmat suits.

An Accor spokesperson [Peppers Resort is operated by Accor] said in a statement to Yahoo Lifestyle that it had been closely monitoring the situation.

“Our first priority is the safety and wellbeing of our teams and guests, and we are following the Department of Health’s advice on how best to protect them,” the spokesperson said.

“We are working with Ecolab and Diversey to implement appropriate measures to minimise risk of transmission in our hotels. We have increased our cleaning and sanitation schedules in all public areas with a particular focus on hand railings, elevators, bathrooms and doors, using a suitable disinfectant.

“Hand sanitiser has been placed in public areas for guests and visitors to use, and we are reinforcing personal hygiene, proper hand washing and use of alcohol-based hand sanitisers. We continue to monitor the situation closely.”

The hotel is widely known as a hotspot for celebrity guests and includes residential-style lodging, much of it privately owned.

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