Harvey Weinstein tests positive for coronavirus in New York prison

The former Hollywood producer has been placed in isolation at Wende Correctional Facility

Harvey Weinstein has tested positive for Covid-19 and has been placed in isolation at Wende Correctional Facility, in New York state. AFP 

Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has tested positive for the coronavirus, Covid-19, US media reported on Sunday.

News of the diagnosis was confirmed by Michael Powers, president of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.

Weinstein, 68, is in prison at Wende Correctional Facility in northern New York state after being sentenced to 23 years in jail for rape and sexual assault. He has been placed in isolation.

The fallen film producer's condition was first reported on Sunday evening by local newspaper the Niagara Gazette.

Weinstein was transferred on Wednesday to a prison near Buffalo, 560 kilometres northwest of New York City.

Prior to his transfer, he stayed at Rikers Island prison and a Manhattan hospital, where he was treated for chest pains.

Crowded US prisons have the potential to become hotbeds for coronavirus infections. Last week, guards at Rikers and New York’s Sing Sing prison tested positive for the virus, local media reported.

As of Sunday, March 22, the virus had killed 417 people in the US of more than 33,000 cases, according to a tracker managed by Johns Hopkins University.

Weinstein was convicted in February of a criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree, while being cleared of predatory sexual assault charges.

He was convicted of raping former actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and of forcibly performing oral sex on former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006.

Nearly 90 women, including Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek, have levelled sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein, the Oscar-winning producer of Shakespeare in Love and numerous other critical and box office hits.