WINNIPEG -- The Manitoba First Nations COVID-19 Pandemic Response Coordination Team (PRCT) is reporting 317 new COVID-19 cases among the province’s First Nations people.

According to the PRCT’s latest report, which covers Dec. 5 to 7, of these new cases, 125 were identified in people living off reserve and 192 in people living on reserve. This brings the total number of active COVID-19 cases among the province’s First Nations people to 1411.

Currently, 97 of these cases are in the hospital, with 19 in the ICU.

Over this same time period, Manitoba recorded four more deaths among its First Nations population, which brings the death toll for the province’s First Nations people to 52. 

The five-day test positivity rate for First Nations people is also higher than the entirety of Manitoba. 

On Monday, Dec. 7, the province said Manitoba’s test positivity rate is sitting at 13.7 per cent, with Winnipeg’s at 14.6 per cent. According to the PRCT, the five-day test positivity rate for Manitoba’s First Nations people is 21 per cent.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 3,729 of Manitoba’s First Nations people have contracted COVID-19, and 2,266 people have recovered.