Health Minister Patty Hajdu speaks to reporters March 3rd, 2020.
The federal health minister says her advice to Canadians in the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus was mischaracterized.
Patty Hajdu says she never told Canadians to stockpile supplies to deal with the spread of the coronavirus.
She says her message is to simply be prepared with enough supplies to get by if you or a family member can’t leave home.
“Because it can happen for a variety of reasons, that you are all of a sudden without power, or that you may have a disruption in your life, so there are handy checklists on the Public Safety website that can help you determine what you might need to prepare,” Hajdu explains.
As more cases of COVID-19 are being reported, Hajdu says it’s not a bad thing that health officials are testing for possible cases of the virus.
“It means that we have a public health system that’s taking the responsibility seriously, that’s following technical guidelines, that is actually using tools that are available to them to detect cases early,” Hajdu says.
