Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came out of self-isolation after 25 days and chaired a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, even as he warned that the government could not predict when the cases relating to the Covid-19 pandemic will peak in the country.
Trudeau had been in self-isolation at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa since his wife Sophie Gregoire tested positive for coronavirus on March 13 after returning from an event in London. While she was cleared of the infection recently, Trudeau had chosen to remain in self-isolation and Wednesday marked the first time he attended a meeting in person. He will continue to work mainly from home.
However, as Covid-19 cases spike in Canada, Trudeau said the government couldn’t tell “exactly when we’re going to be peaking.” But, he added that if Canadians kept to measures like social distancing and leaving home only for essential activities, then the nation “will get through this much, much quicker.”
He welcomed the positive effect that social distancing has had in curbing the spread of the disease, and added that such behavioural changes may be necessary for more than a year, till a vaccine to counter Covid-19 becomes a reality.
“Once we are through this initial phase, we will then be in a mode, until there is a vaccine, which could take many many months, if not more than a year, to get to. We will be calibrating very carefully our behaviours as a country, as a society, as an economy, to managing the existence and persistence of COVID19,” he said while addressing the media.
He also said that social distancing and staying at home had proved “very effective.”
“It is clear that the best outcomes come when there is maximal social distancing, as we are pretty close to doing right now,” he pointed out.
