Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has gone into self-isolation after a person she came into contact with tested positive for the coronavirus.
Freeland is the first high-profile Canadian to have quarantined after receiving a notification on the Covid app launched by the government.
She made the announcement on Twitter, saying, “Today, I had a COVID-19 test after I received a notification from the COVID Alert App. I am self-isolating at home while I wait for the results of the test.”
Freeland, who is an MP from Toronto, also handles the critical finance portfolio after her predecessor Bill Morneau quit the cabinet recently after becoming embroiled in a controversy related to the grant of a nearly billion-dollar contract to a charity to which he and his family, as well as that of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has close links.
Freeland is the latest among major Canadian leaders to have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. In September, leaders of the two principal Opposition parties in Canada’s Parliament, Erin O’Toole of the Conservatives, and Yves-François Blanchet of the Bloc Québécois, went into self-isolation after testing positive for the virus. Both recovered and returned to the House of Commons session.
In mid-March, as the pandemic first started making its presence felt in Canada, Trudeau also went into self-isolation for several weeks after his wife Sophie Gregoire was infected during an event in London.
The government has faced criticism in recent days as the second wave of the pandemic has exposed the lack of an efficient and timely testing protocol, with results often delayed, as well as the low uptake of the app. While about five million persons have so far downloaded the app, a couple of provinces have yet to adopt it citing shortcomings in how it works.
