'I was completely nauseous, couldn't walk, had weak muscles and vertigo': Tom Hanks' wife Rita Wilson describes the extreme side effects she had after taking chloroquine to treat coronavirus and says she had worse symptoms than her husband

Rita Wilson has said she felt 'completely nauseous', had achy muscles, vertigo, and couldn't walk after taking chloroquine as a coronavirus treatment.

The opera singer-and-actress contracted COVID-19 at the same time as her husband Tom Hanks while they were working in Australia and were some of the first celebrities to reveal they had the disease.

Wilson recalled on CBS This Morning Tuesday that she felt very tired, extremely achy, uncomfortable and 'didn't want to be touched', plus lost her sense of taste and smell while suffering with the symptoms.

But the side effects of chloroquine phosphate - an anti-malarial medication that has been dubbed a game-changer by President Trump – are much worse, according to Wilson.

'They gave me chloroquine,' she said about suffering from fever of 102. 'I know people have been talking about this drug. I can only tell you that I don't know if the drug worked or it was just time for the fever to break.

'My fever did break but the chloroquine had such extreme side effects. I was completely nauseous and I had vertigo. I could not walk. My muscles felt very weak. I think people have to be very considerate of that drug. We don't know if it's helpful.' 

The drug kills malaria parasites in the blood, stopping the tropical disease in its tracks. 

Tests of the drug – which has been used for 70 years – on COVID-19 patients in China show it has potential in fighting the life-threatening virus. 

President Trump has touted the hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin (antibiotic) combination.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has also repeatedly hailed the benefits of chloroquine and azithromycin without evidence. In reality, results of trials of hydroxychloroquine have been mixed.

A recent study in Brazil was stopped early after users developed heart arrhythmias. 

Wilson said even though the couple contracted the illness at the same time – from someone they have not been able to identify – Hanks had milder symptoms. 

'He didn't have as high a fever, he didn't lose his sense of taste or smell but still took us the same time to get through it,' Wilson told CBS host Gayle King. 

Now they are both feeling great and are trying to use the experience to help conquer coronavirus, which had infected more than 582,500 people in the US as of Tuesday afternoon. 

Asked whether they couple knew whether they were immune to the strain now they have recovered, Wilson told King: 'They told us and that's what the belief is.' 

'Recently we have been part of a study where we donated our blood and we're waiting to hear back if our antibodies will be helpful in developing a vaccine and also if we're able to donate plasma that can be used as donation to other people who are suffering from the virus because we are better,' she added. 

Wilson said she used music to help her overcome the brutal effects of the illness. 

One of those moments was a hit on the internet and caught the attention of rap group Naughty By Nature. She said it took her a month to learn their track Hip Hop Hooray for scene in a movie called Boy Genius and described it as' like learning a foreign language'. 

The opera singer thought it would be a good test of her memory while recovering. 'I just was sitting there in quarantine and I thought oh, maybe I should do this for a brain exercise and see if I still remember the lyrics,' she explained.

'I thought maybe if I just post this could it be something fun and show people that we're okay and I think that made me feel really good is that naughty by nature had commented on it and said that they liked it and then this idea came up that we should do a remix of it.' 

Wilson added: 'Any time you stream it, that translates in to money and all of that money will go into MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund.'

This past weekend, Hanks was also back to his craft. 

The actor hosted Saturday Night Live as all the cast members appeared from home during the coronavirus crisis.