Daniel Dae Kim Reveals He Contracted Coronavirus While Filming New Amsterdam

Daniel Dae Kim has joined a growing list of celebrities who've revealed that they have been positively diagnosed with coronavirus. In an Instagram video shared on Thursday, Kim revealed that he contracted the disease some time while working in New York City for his guest stint on New Amsterdam.

"For the past several weeks, I was in New York shooting a role on a TV series where, ironically, I play a doctor who gets recruited to a hospital to help patients during a flu pandemic," Kim explained in the video. After the show was suspended following the World Health Organization's pandemic declaration, Kim flew home to Hawaii, and it was during his air travel that he began experiencing symptoms.

"It's important for you guys to know I was asymptomatic during all of this time, but as the flight was close to landing, I started noticing some scratchiness in my throat, which is unlike how I usually get sick," he explained. His doctor advised him to monitor his symptoms, and, once he experienced chest tightness and a fever, he followed up and was advised to take the test at a local drive-through facility. All the while, he'd isolated himself in a separate part of his home from his family, who've since been tested and are negative for the disease, but he received a positive diagnosis for the disease and has been self-treating at home ever since.

In the video, Kim said that he was on the mend, but stressed that anyone who is not taking the virus seriously due to young age or good health should reconsider. "A lot of younger people can carry the virus without having any symptoms whatsoever. That was not me. I was sick. I still am," he said. "If you treat this without care, you are potentially endangering the lives of millions of people, including your loved ones."

Kim then went on to thank his healthcare providers and all who are offering patient care at this time, along with other essential service providers -- grocery workers, ride-share drivers, and more -- and issued his heartfelt apologies to anyone who may have come into contact with him directly before his self-isolation.

"To the people that I came into contact with in the incubation period, I want to sincerely apologize. Though I had no way of knowing, and I was trying to be as careful as I could, I feel terrible thinking that I could've given this to anyone, let alone people I value enough to spend time with. And this of course includes the cast and crew of New Amsterdam," he said. "I've been told by Universal that they are taking this matter very seriously and are working with a team of doctors to ensure the safety of anyone who might've been impacted by working with me over that period. And to you guys, I am so sorry. I've really, really enjoyed working with you all."

Kim closed by issuing a call for the stereotyping and racist acts which have arisen in the wake of this disease to end. "Yes, I'm Asian, and yes, I have coronavirus, but I did not get it from China, I got it in America," he said. "The name-calling gets us nowhere. When people are ill, what matters most is how best to take care of ourselves and one another."

Daniel Dae Kim is but the latest celebrity who has come forward with a positive coronavirus diagnosis. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson also keep fans up to speed on their condition after being diagnosed in Australia;Game of Thrones' Kristofer Hivju also revealed his experience with the disease; and Idris Elba also used his diagnosis to publicly plea for social distancing increases. Other celebrities who've been affected include actress Olga Kurylenko; NBA stars Kevin Durant, Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell; and political figures like Canadian First Lady Sophie Trudeau, Monaco's Prince Albert II, and U.S. Congressmen Mario Diaz-Balart and Ben McAdams.