Sean Penn has been spotted being tested for COVID-19 in Los Angeles at a testing site set up by his non-profit organisation.

The Oscar-winning actor set up the free Malibu testing site with organisation CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), which is helping in the crisis.

Penn was seen leaning back in a chair while being swabbed by a staff member wearing protective equipment (via Daily Mail).

CORE was originally set up as a non-profit disaster relief organisation following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and is now working with LA mayor Eric Garcetti and the city’s fire department to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

They are aiming to establish free drive-through testing sites for those with qualifying symptoms, according to USA Today.

Penn hopes to “save lives and alleviate depletion of resources”, adding: “We have an infrastructure in place to respond, and so we decided that we would if we could be value added.

“It’s something that we can adapt to very quickly with the training of the Los Angeles Fire Department initially. And then we’re able to take all those firemen and put them back in to serve the people in the way that we need them to.”

Meanwhile, amid the crisis, actor Josh Brolin has apologised after posting a picture defying social distancing measures while visiting his family.

“You know, it’s hard to be honest sometimes,” he said. “It’s hard to be honest and say, ‘Maybe I screwed up’ and I knew that that was in the air, not because of the responses, but the responses brought me back to my own truth and it’s humbling as hell, man.

“Because I know there’s some people out there that [have] no masks, no gloves, no interest in it. They think it’s in your head, that you’ll survive because of immunity that’s created from your own psychic weight. But I know for me that’s not the case, we’ve been very responsible and I apologise about that.”