KUALA LUMPUR: Actor Daniel Dae Kim is the latest celebrity to have contracted Covid-19.
The 51-year-old star of Hawaii 5-0 and Lost took to Instagram yesterday to announce the unfortunate news.
In the post, he wrote: "Hi everyone, yesterday I was diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Looks like I’ll be ok, but I wanted share my journey with you in the hopes that you find it informative or helpful. Hope you all stay safe, calm, and above all, healthy."
His post was accompanied by a 10-minute video clip in which he talked further about how he might have contracted the disease which has been ravaging the globe in recent months.
The hunky American of Korean descent believes that he was exposed to the virus while in New York City where he was filming the TV series, New Amsterdam.
Kim said that the filming was eventually cancelled due to the pandemic. But while he was on a flight back to Hawaii to be with his family, he developed a scratchy throat.
Other symptoms then started to show, like chest tightness, body aches and a fever, after he had self quarantined once back in Hawaii.
On the orders of his doctor, Kim went to a testing centre in Honolulu and later discovered that he had the coronavirus.
"Today, even though I'm not 100 per cent, I'm pretty close," he said.
Kim also advised others to practise self isolation and to follow precautionary guidelines.
"If you treat this without care you are potentially endangering the lives of millions of people, including your loved ones," he said.
The actor then praised those who have put themselves at risk in order to carry out their jobs to be of service of others, such as medical workers and grocery store employees.
Kim also called for an end to xenophobic behaviour that the pandemic has caused.
He said: "Yes, I'm Asian. And yes, I have coronavirus, but I did not get it in China. I got it in America, in New York City. Despite what certain political leaders want to call it, I don't consider the place where it's from as important as the people who are sick and dying."
The father of two then added: "I'm grateful to be alive and healthy. It gives me hope that through our collective efforts we can beat this thing and flatten the curve."
"But in the meantime please be safe, please be healthy and please be kind to one another. And please stop hoarding the toilet paper. Seriously. How dirty are you down there?"
Ironically, Kim had been cast in a recurring role in New Amsterdam, where he was set to play a trauma surgeon.
His character's introduction into the series would be in an episode that had the characters on the medical drama dealing with a flu pandemic.