EIGHT more people in Gwent have died due to coronavirus, it has been confirmed today by Public Health Wales, out of 51 across Wales.

And there have been a further 372 cases confirmed in Gwent today, out of 1,480 throughout Wales.

The figures come on the day when Wales, along with the rest of the UK, prepares itself for a vaccination programme to tackle coronavirus, following the announcement this morning of approval by medicines regulators for the first Covid-19 vaccine.

The number of confirmed coronavirus deaths in Wales now stands at 2,614, according to Public Health Wales, with 470 of these in Gwent.

Twelve more deaths were confirmed today in both the Cwm Taf Morgannwg and Swansea Bay University Health Boards areas, along with 11 in the Betsi Cadwaladr UHB area in north Wales.

Four were confirmed in the Cariff & Vale UHB area, and three in the Hywel Dda UHB area. There is also one death confirmed of a person resident outside Wales but with the test taking place here.

The total number of cases across Wales since the pandemic began, again according to Public Health Wales, is now 82,489, including 15,370 in Gwent.

Today's newly confirmed cases in Gwent are as follows: Caerphilly, 125; Newport, 90; Blaenau Gwent, 74; Torfaen, 43; Monmouthshire, 40.

READ MORE:

Sign up to the South Wales Argus daily coronavirus update email newsletter by registering here.

The rolling weekly case rate for Wales as a whole continues to rise, and for the week to November 29 was 227.9 per 100,000 population.

The Blaenau Gwent rolling weekly case rate has topped 450 per 100,000 again (453.8) and remains the highest in Wales, followed by Torfaen (402.3). The latest rate in Newport is 307.7, the seventh highest in Wales, with Caerphilly (294.9) the eighth highest. Monmouthshire's rolling weekly case rate is currently 180.8 per 100,000.

Torfaen (19.1 per cent) currently has the third highest proportion of positive tests in Wales, behind Neath Port Talbot and Swansea, where cases have risen sharply in recent days.

The newly confirmed cases today across Wales are as follows:

Swansea - 191

Rhondda Cynon Taf - 138

Caerphilly - 125

Neath Port Talbot - 107

Cardiff - 106

Newport - 90

Carmarthenshire - 90

Blaenau Gwent - 74

Bridgend - 61

Vale of Glamorgan - 56

Pembrokeshire - 48

Wrexham - 45

Torfaen - 43

Monmouthshire - 40

Flintshire - 39

Merthyr Tydfil - 25

Denbighshire - 16

Conwy - 13

Ceredigion - 13

Powys - 13

Anglesey - 11

Gwynedd - five

Unknown location - 10

Resident outside Wales - 21

Public Health Wales figures include reports of the deaths of hospitalised patients in Welsh hospitals, or care home residents, where Covid-19 has been confirmed with a positive laboratory test and the clinician suspects this was a causative factor in the death.

They do not include people who may have died of Covid-19 but who were not confirmed by laboratory testing, those who died in other settings, or Welsh residents who died outside of Wales, and the true number of Covid-19 deaths will be higher.

The Office for National Statistics - which counts all deaths in which coronavirus is mentioned on the death certificate - puts the number of deaths in Wales much higher.