TOM HANKS and RITA WILSON,

the faces of COVID-19, will donate blood to help find a vaccine

After battling coronavirus earlier this year, the two Hollywood legends plan to donate plasma to try and help fight the global pandemic. Being the first celebrities to come out with the news of their diagnosis, they have become the unofficial “faces of COVID-19.”

Speaking in an NPR podcast, Hanks said: "A lot of the questions are, what do we do now? Is there something we can do? And, in fact, we just found out that we do carry the antibodies. We have not only been approached, we’ve said, 'Do you want our blood? Can we give plasma?' In fact, we will be giving it now to the places that hope to work on what I would like to call the 'Hank-ccine.'"

The 63-year-old actor previously revealed that Rita struggled with coronavirus more than he did, as she had a "much-higher fever" than him, as well as other symptoms.

"She got absolutely no joy from food for a better part of three weeks. She was so nauseous, she had to crawl on the floor from the bed to the facilities. It lasted a while," he said.

He added: Whoever it was, doctor, nurse, would come into our air-pressurized room, our isolation rooms. She said, 'How are you feeling?' and I said, 'I just had the weirdest thing. I just tried to do basic stretches and exercises on the floor and I couldn't even get halfway through. And she looked at me through her glasses like she was talking to the dumbest human being. And she said, 'You have COVID-19.'"

Recently, the 'Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood' actor wrote a kind note to eight-year-old Corona De Vries after the young Australian sent him a letter. In his letter, Corona wrote: "I heard on the news you and your wife had caught the coronavirus. Are you OK?

"I love my name but at school, people call me 'the coronavirus.' I get very sad and angry when people call me this."

Hanks sent a letter replying to his new friend and also included a Corona-brand typewriter, which he'd used while recovering.

He wrote: "Dear Friend Corona, Your letter made my wife and I feel so wonderful! Thank you for being such a good friend - friends make friends feel good when they are down. You are the only person I've ever known to have the name Corona - like the ring around the sun, a crown.

"I saw you on TV, even though I was back in the USA already - and all healthy. Even though I was no longer sick, getting your letter made me feel even better. I thought this typewriter would suit you. I had taken it to the Gold Coast, and now, it is back - with you."

The actor, who famously has a huge collection of typewriters, urged Corona to continue their correspondence with the device.

He added: "Ask a grown-up how it works. And use it to write me back."

And the actor ended the letter with a reference to the theme to his movie 'Toy Story'.

He wrote: "PS! You got a friend in ME!"

Being the first celebrities to come out with the news of their diagnosis, they have become the unofficial “faces of COVID-19.”