Pierce Brosnan says he's lost two lifelong friends to coronavirus

Actor Pierce Brosnan has revealed he tragically lost two lifelong friends to coronavirus.

For the cover story of the latest Parade issue, the 67-year-old former James Bond star described the pandemic as "a war" and called COVID-19 an "awful threat to life looming."

"I lost two friends to COVID-19. They were friends of 45 years, and I am godfather to his son," he told the magazine.

"No matter where you are and how beautiful it may be, you still have this awful threat to life looming," he said.

He continued, "You have to keep pushing the rock uphill, and you have to keep involved in life. We are at war. People are dying."

Yet despite the devastation the virus has reaped around the world, Brosnan has managed to see the silver lining and hopes that it will make people appreciate the Earth more.

"Hopefully after all this, there will be more kindness and more awareness of the fragility of our planet."

In the interview, Brosnan opened up about how is current acting project, Disney's Cinderella, has been affected by the outbreak and subsequent lockdown measures. The World is Not Enough was on location in England filming when he was forced him to return home to Hawaii to be with his family.

"I was on a plane the next day. I was told I might not get out, and I wanted to be with my family," he told the outlet.

The actor has since been isolating with his wife Keely Shaye Smith and their two sons, Dylan, 23, and Paris, 19, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Amid the crisis, both sons returned from studying to live at home with their girlfriends until it is once again safe to return to their respective colleges.

Marrying Smith, 56, in 2001, Brosnan was previously married to Australian actress Cassandra Harris who was once a Bond girl starring opposite Roger Moore in For Your Eyes Only. The two were married from 1980 until she lost her battle with Ovarian cancer in 1991.

Brosnan shares a son with his late ex-wife, Sean, 36. He is also the adoptive father of Harris' two children — Charlotte and Christopher — two children from the actress' first husband, Dermot Harris.

In 2013, Charlotte tragically died at the age of 42 from the same illness that claimed her mother's death.

Brosnan is also a grandfather to Charlotte's two children, Isabella, 21, and Lucas, 14, as well as to his eldest son Sean's daughter Marley May, four.

Coronavirus: What you need to know

How is coronavirus transmitted?

The human coronavirus is only spread from someone infected with COVID-19 to another. This occurs through close contact with an infected person through contaminated droplets spread by coughing or sneezing, or by contact with contaminated hands or surfaces.

What are the symptoms of someone infected with coronavirus?

Coronavirus patients may experience flu like symptoms such as a fever, cough, runny nose, or shortness of breath. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia with severe acute respiratory distress.

What is the difference between COVID-19 and the flu?

The symptoms of COVID-19 and the flu are very similar, as they both can cause fever and respiratory issues.

Both infections are also transmitted the same way, via coughing or sneezing, or by contact with hands, surfaces or objects contaminated with the virus.

The speed of transmission and the severity of the infection are the key differences between COVID-19 and the flu.

The time from infection to the appearance of symptoms is typically shorter with the flu. However, there are higher proportions of severe and critical COVID-19 infections.