CANADA FLAGS INTEL REPORT ON TERROR STRIKES AMID OUTBREAK
TORONTO: Canada’s law enforcement establishment has circulated a US intelligence report t hat s ays t errorist s c ould “exploit” the stress placed on the public safety system in countering the pandemic, to attack targets like supermarkets and hospitals.
The report also pointed to chatter on social media from some terrorist elements pushing for targeting stores owned by people of “Indian descent”.
The alert was issued by the National Counterterrorism Centre in America, and formed part of a security advisory from the US rail industry. The existence of this document, which has been distributed in Canada by the First Responder Terrorism Awareness Program of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP, was first reported by the Canadian outlet Global News.
Meanwhile, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came out of self-isolation after 25 days and chaired a cabinet meeting, even as he warned that the government is not in a position to predict when the pandemic will peak in the country.
Trudeau had been in a self-isolation at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa since his wife Sophie Gregoire had tested positive for the coronavirus on March 13 after returning from an event in London. While she was cleared of the infection recently, Trudeau had gone into precautionary selfisolation and on Wednesday marke d t h e first t i me h e attended a meeting in person. He will continue to work mainly from home.
Trudeau said the government couldn’t tell “exactly when we’re going to be peaking”. But, he added, if the Canadians kept to measures like social distancing and leaving home only for essential activities, then the nation “will get through this much, much quicker”.