THERE have been nine more coronavirus deaths and 475 new confirmed cases recorded in Gwent today.

The number of deaths confirmed in the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area by Public Health Wales since the beginning of December now stands at 49, with only the Swansea Bay and Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB areas (56 and 54 respectively) recording a higher number in that time.

The number of deaths in Gwent since the pandemic began now stands at 511, and in Wales 2,789, according to Public Health Wales.

This is also the fifth day in the last eight in which more than 400 cases have been confirmed in Gwent, and there have been 2,761 new cases confirmed here since the start of December.

Across Wales, a further 1,968 cases have been confirmed today, including those in Gwent.

Today's confirmed cases in Gwent are: Caerphilly, 163; Newport, 130; Torfaen, 83; Blaenau Gwent, 55; Monmouthshire, 44.

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The rolling weekly case rate for Wales - to December 6 - has risen again, to 380 per 100,000.

These case rates have increased again in all five council areas of Gwent, with two almost at 600 per 100,000 and two of them well above 500 per 100,000. They are: Blaenau Gwent (598.3, the third highest in Wales); Newport (589.6, fourth highest in Wales); Caerphilly (546.7, sixth highest in Wales); Torfaen (476.8, ninth highest in Wales); Monmouthshire (320.3, 12th highest in Wales).

Neath Port Talbot (697.1 per 100,000), and Merthyr Tydfil (668) have the first and secomnd highest weekly case rates in Wales, respectively.

The newly confirmed cases today across Wales are as follows:

Swansea - 247

Rhondda Cynon Taf - 245

Neath Port Talbot - 179

Cardiff - 173

Caerphilly - 163

Bridgend - 156

Newport - 130

Carmarthenshire - 102

Merthyr Tydfil - 98

Torfaen - 83

Blaenau Gwent - 55

Vale of Glamorgan - 47

Monmouthshire - 44

Wrexham - 44

Powys - 43

Flintshire - 31

Ceredigion - 21

Gwynedd - 18

Denbighshire - 17

Pembrokeshire - 13

Conwy - 12

Anglesey - three

Unknown location - 19

Resident outside Wales - 25

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.