OTTAWA — Peter MacKay is self-isolating.

The presumptive front-runner in the Conservative leadership campaign had sought to avoid this, keeping himself separate from his family after they returned from a holiday in Mexico and they then entered into isolation per Canada’s rules to prevent spread of the COVID-19 virus.

According to his camp, Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKay and their three children travelled to Mexico on March 10, “before any travel restrictions were in place,” and returned on March 18. His leadership team said Sunday that he had kept his distance from his family in the intervening days.

“Mr. MacKay temporarily moved to a hotel prior to his family returning from their vacation. This was done so that Mr. MacKay could continue with a digital campaign which required some staff to be on-site (all followed public health officials’ social distancing guidelines),” wrote Jordan Paquet, a spokesperson for the MacKay campaign, on Sunday.

After the Conservative Party suspended the leadership race, MacKay, 54, returned back to the family home.

“Mr. MacKay returned home on Friday and will remain at the home with his family for the duration of their 14-day isolation period,” Paquet wrote. “Prior to returning home of Friday, he stopped for some needed groceries and has not left the property since.”

MacKay, a longtime MP and former cabinet minister under prime minister Stephen Harper, had been urging party officials to move forward with the leadership contest’s schedule, with a vote slated for June 27.

But late Thursday night, the party’s leadership election committee determined the party could not properly administer its leadership race.