NBA Star Karl-Anthony Towns Reveals His Mom Is in Coma with COVID-19, Urges Public to 'Take Every Precaution' to Beat Coronavirus

Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns has revealed his mother has been diagnosed with coronavirus and urged the public to take every possible precaution to defeat the virus.

In an emotional video posted on Instagram on Tuesday night, the Timberwolves center explained his mother is connected to a ventilator and in a medically-induced coma. He added his parents first acknowledged not feeling well at the beginning of last week and were told to see a doctor immediately and after a few days without any sign of improvement, Towns and his sister instructed them to specifically get checked for coronavirus.

Towns said his mother's condition deteriorated dramatically "before our eyes" over the next few days, as her fever climbed to as high as 103 degrees and "her cough and lungs kept getting worse," despite the treatment.

"We always felt the next medicine would help," the 24-year-old continued, adding his mother appeared to have "turned the corner" at one stage, only for her lungs to quickly worsen again. His father, meanwhile, has since been released and is in mandatory quarantine.

In the video, the two-time All-Star highlighted how important it was that "everybody understands the severity of what is going on in the world right now" and urged the public to adhere to the social distancing guidelines that have been suggested by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and to treat the pandemic seriously.

"We can beat this, but this is serious and we need to take every precaution," the Timberwolves star wrote in the caption to the video. "Sharing my story in the hopes that everyone stays at home! We need more equipment and we need to help those medical personnel on the front lines. Thank you to the medical staff who are helping my mom. You are all the true heroes! Praying for all of us at this difficult time."

Shortly after Towns posted his video on Instagram, Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell offered words of support to the first overall pick of the 2015 draft.

Mitchell was diagnosed with coronavirus two weeks ago but he's asymptomatic. He's one of 14 NBA players to have tested positive to COVID-19, along with teammate Rudy Gobert and Detroit Pistons forward Christian Wood, while Kevin Durant is one of four Brooklyn Nets players to also have tested positive.

Last week, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Denver Nuggets both announced members of their organizations had tested positive to COVID-19, but neither team confirmed whether any of their players were affected.

On the same day, two Los Angeles Lakers players and Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart were also confirmed to have tested positive for the virus.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 55,000 cases have been reported in the U.S., with 801 deaths and 354 people recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University, which has been tracking the outbreak using combined data sources.

Over 18,900 people have died since the outbreak of coronavirus began in Wuhan, a city located in China's central Hubei province, late last year. There are over 423,000 cases globally, with more than 108,000 recovered.