Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is self-isolating after his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau started showing signs of a coronavirus infection, it was announced today.
Grégoire Trudeau is said to have been exhibiting "mild flu-like symptoms including a low fever" since returning from a speaking engagement in London in the UK.
Below is a statement detailing the decision to self-isolate, posted to Twitter by the Canadian Director of Communications, Cameron Ahmad:
According to the statement, the "doctor’s advice to the Prime Minister is to continue daily activities while self-monitoring, given he is exhibiting no symptoms himself."
"However, out of an abundance of caution, the Prime Minister is opting to self-isolate and work from home until receiving Sophie’s results."
It continues: "The prime minister will spend the day in briefings, phone calls and virtual meetings from home, including speaking with other world leaders and joining the special COVID-19 cabinet committee discussion."
Related - this is the moment 103-year-old Zhang Guangfen, the oldest patient to be cured of coronavirus, is escorted out of the hospital by a group of medics:In a report from the World Health Organization yesterday, they declared that the COVID-19 outbreak is now being officially recognized as a pandemic:
"WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.
"We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.
"Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death."
As of yesterday's report, there have now been more than 118,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 114 countries, and 4,291 people have lost their lives.