At least three provincial cabinet ministers in Quebec and the mayor of Montreal are in preventive isolation after a municipal official on the city’s south shore tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, Transport Minister François Bonnardel and Chantal Rouleau, junior transportation minister, are isolating Tuesday after meeting with Longueuil Mayor Sylvie Parent last week.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante announced in the afternoon she will be taking the same precautions since she met with Rouleau. Ian Lafrenière, the MNA for the Vachon riding on Montreal’s south shore, has also followed suit.
The wave of preventive isolation measures comes after Parent said she started experiencing mild symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, on Friday.
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In a statement issued Tuesday, Parent said she underwent a test and received a positive diagnosis two days later.
“I have often added my voice to those who remind us that the pandemic is far from over and I am the proof today,” she said.
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Parent will undergo a 10-day quarantine as outlined by the province, which recently reduced the period for people with mild symptoms.
The mayor of the south shore city said that she will continue to work from home in the meantime, but that she is cancelling all physical appearances.
“I will resume my normal activities when I get the green light from public health,” she said.
— With files from Global News’ Raquel Fletcher
© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
