Canada PM Trudeau says contracted COVID a second time

OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time in less than five months, he said Monday, adding that he feels fine but is isolating.

"I’ve tested positive for COVID-19. I’ll be following public health guidelines and isolating," the Canadian leader said on Twitter, adding: "I feel okay."

Trudeau, who has received three doses of the COVID vaccine, also tested positive for the virus at the end of January.

He used this latest bout — coming on the heels of a trip to the United States for the Summit of the Americas that brought some two dozen regional leaders together — as an opportunity to promote COVID vaccines, saying his lack of severe symptoms was "because I got my shots."

"If you haven’t, get vaccinated" or "get boosted," he urged. "Let’s protect our healthcare system, each other, and ourselves."

In January, Trudeau had missed the return of parliament after a Christmas holiday break because he’d tested positive for COVID along with two of his children.

Days earlier, a mass protest led by truckers opposed to vaccine mandates had descended on Ottawa.

Their occupation of the capital would continue for weeks before the government declared an emergency and police cleared their camp outside parliament.

At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Trudeau also had to isolate for 14 days after his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, tested positive for the coronavirus on her return from a trip to London.

COVID transmission is decreasing in most parts of Canada, according to public health officials.