Indigenous leadership key to COVID-19 case decline, says minister Marc Miller – CBC

‘You can’t underplay or underestimate the work that the Indigenous leadership has done,’ says Miller

Apr 07, 2021

Indigenous leadership and the early deployment of vaccines have caused COVID-19 cases on reserves to drop more than 85 per cent since January, Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said today.

At the start of the year, there were more than 5,000 active cases in First Nations and Inuit communities across Canada — that number had dropped to 635 by April 6, Miller said.

“Continued uptick of vaccines in Indigenous communities is a large contributing factor to the decline in active cases in addition to the continued respect of public health measures,” he said.

From the pandemic’s start up to April 6, First Nations reserves have seen 25,174 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 24,249 recoveries and 290 deaths.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/marc-miller-indigenous-leadership-1.5978483