A FURTHER 440 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed across Gwent, the most in a single day since the pandemic began.

Far more tests are being undertaken now than were carried out during the height of the first wave of coronavirus - but with more than 1,100 cases confirmed in Gwent in the past four days, the area remains a hotspot for the virus.

Threee more coronavirus deaths have also been confirmed, taking the total in Gwent since the pandemic began to 473, according to Public Health Wales.

Overall, there have been a further 24 deaths across Wales, taking the total to 2,638, again according to Public Health Wales.

Close to 84,000 cases have now been confirmed in Wales during the pandemic, including 15,810 in Gwent.

Today's cases confirmations in Gwent take the number reported in the area to more than 1,100 in just four days. The latest reported cases are: Caerphilly, 125; Newport, 116; Torfaen, 86; Blaenau Gwent, 65; Monmouthshire, 48.

Four other areas of Wales had 100 or more cases confirmed today - Cardiff (217), Rhondda Cynon Taf (180), Neath Port Talbot (132), Swansea (100).

Ten more deaths were confirmed today in the Swansea Bay University Health Board area, with six more in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB area, two each in the Cardiff & Vale and Hywel Dda (west Wales) UHB areas, and one in the Betsi Cadwaladr (north Wales) UHB area.

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The rolling weekly case rate for Wales - for the week to November 29 - rose again, to was 237.9 per 100,000 population.

The Blaenau Gwent rolling weekly case rate for that period was 468.1, the highest in Wales, though the rate in Neath Port Talbot (434 per 100,000) is now the second highest, reflecting a steep rise in cases there in recent days.

Torfaen (382.1) has the third highest rolling weekly case rate in Wales. The latest rate in Newport is 309, the seventh highest, with Caerphilly (306) the eighth highest. Monmouthshire's rolling weekly case rate is currently 194.5 per 100,000.

The newly confirmed cases today across Wales are as follows:

Cardiff - 217

Rhondda Cynon Taf - 180

Neath Port Talbot - 132

Caerphilly - 125

Newport - 116

Swansea - 100

Torfaen - 86

Carmarthenshire - 84

Bridgend - 66

Blaenau Gwent - 65

Monmouthshire - 48

Vale of Glamorgan - 42

Merthyr Tydfil - 42

Powys - 26

Wrexham - 25

Flintshire - 17

Pembrokeshire - 16

Ceredigion - 11

Denbighshire - nine

Conwy - seven

Gwynedd - seven

Anglesey - one

Unknown location - nine

Resident outside Wales - 31

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.