Justin Trudeau says he’ll take COVID-19 antibody test once available

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says once there’s a test widely available to see who has had COVID-19, he’ll take it.

Trudeau was exposed to the novel coronavirus earlier this year via his wife, who likely contracted it during a trip to England, but the prime minister never showed any symptoms.

He was never tested himself — at the time, testing was limited to those who were symptomatic.

But testing is slowly becoming available now that can detect whether a person has previously had COVID-19, even if they showed no symptoms.

Trudeau says that test will be an important part of understanding how the illness has been present in Canada, especially among those who never showed signs.

The federal government is currently ramping up the ability of Canada’s health care system to both test for current cases of COVID-19 and past ones.

Trudeau also announced Canada will co-host a major United Nations conference on dealing with the economic crisis spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trudeau will co-host the Thursday event with his Jamaican counterpart Andrew Holness and the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The top priority will be expanding liquidity in the global economy and maintaining financial stability while safeguarding the gains being made in helping less-developed countries.

The conference will raise Canada’s profile as it competes for a seat on UN Security Council next month against Norway and Ireland.

Trudeau has spoken to his French, German and other Caribbean nation counterparts about Thursday’s conference.

The UN vote is set for next month, and Canada is running on a platform of trying to help rebuild the post-pandemic world.