Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tested positive for coronavirus after an exposure last week. He said on Twitter that he didn’t f...
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tested positive for coronavirus after an exposure last week. He said on Twitter that he didn’t feel sick.
He later told an online press conference that two of his three children had also tested positive.
Mr. Trudeau has been in solitary confinement since last Thursday, when he learned that he had been exposed. He revealed his own positive test result in a statement posted to social media on Monday morning, and added that he would “continue to work remotely this week while following public health guidelines.”
Several Canadian news outlets reported that Mr Trudeau and his family were moved from their official residence in Ottawa, the capital, by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police over the weekend as thousands of protesters converged on the city .
Police declined to comment on the information, citing security concerns.
Unorganized convoys of truckers traveled the country to Ottawa to protest vaccination mandates, attracting supporters and millions of dollars in donations along the way. They gathered outside Canada’s Parliament Building on Saturday, clogging downtown streets, with cars and pickups outnumbering the heavy trucks that originally made up the convoys.
Some demonstrators carried Canadian flags held upside down, traditionally a signal of great distress or danger. At least one flag had swastikas drawn on it.
“Hate can never be the answer,” Trudeau said during the virtual press conference. “Over the past few days, Canadians have been shocked and frankly disgusted by the behavior of some people protesting in our nation’s capital.
Some protesters were still in the area on Monday, and Ottawa police said they expected “major traffic, noise and safety issues.”
Mr. Trudeau, who is fully vaccinated and received a booster dose in early January, planned to participate in his scheduled events remotely on Monday, including a question period in the House of Commons.
This is not the first time that Mr. Trudeau has had to perform his duties from home. His wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, had flu-like symptoms in March 2020 and later tested positive for coronavirus. As his wife isolated herself in part of their home, Mr. Trudeau became the full-time caretaker to her three children, cleaning and doing the laundry, although cooked meals were dropped off.
Public health guidelines have recently changed in several provinces, including Ontario, where Ottawa is located. Ontario now requires vaccine recipients who test positive for the virus to self-isolate for at least five days after the onset of symptoms, a household contact or a positive test; earlier in the pandemic, the minimum was around 14 days.
Nearly 78 percent of Canadians are fully immunized, according to federal public health Dataand 88% of people aged 5 and over received at least one dose of vaccine.
Ian Austen contributed reporting from Ottawa.
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