A FURTHER four coronavirus deaths and 579 new cases have been confirmed across Gwent today.

They are among 33 newly confirmed deaths from the virus - with all of Wales' seven health board areas reporting a new death or deaths - and 2,510 new cases, across Wales.

According to Public Health Wales, there have now been 3,416 deaths in Wales since the pandemic began, with 655 of these in Gwent (Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area).

And there have been 144,425 cases across Wales, again according to Public Health Wales, including 29, 856 in Gwent.

New cases confirmed in Gwent today - and the individual area's totals - are as follows: Caerphilly, 191 (9,848); Newport, 139 (7,727); Blaenau Gwent, 97 (4,900); Torfaen, 96 (4,483); Monmouthshire 56 (2,898).

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The rolling weekly case rate for Wales - for the week to Christmas Eve - was 495.2 per 100,000 population, down on previous days' rates, though due to the five-day lag in reporting case rates do not reflect the high numbers of cases over the festive season.

Blaenau Gwent continues to have the highest rolling weekly case rate in Gwent, at 740 per 100,000, which remains the third highest in Wales.

Case rates for the remaining areas of Gwent for the week to December 24, are: Newport, 613.5 per 100,000 (sixth highest in Wales); Torfaen 610.9 (seventh highest in Wales); Caerphilly, 596.4 (eighth highest in Wales); Monmouthshire, 353.1 (14th highest in Wales).

Bridgend now has the highest case rate in Wales, at 949.3 per 100,000, followed by Merthyr Tydfil, with 895.1.

A little more than one-in-five people (20.2 per cent, or 15,614) who were tested in Wales in the week to Christmas Eve, returned positive results for coronavirus.

Bridgend (30.4 per cent0 and Neath Port Talbot (27.9 per cent) had the highest proportion of positive tests that week, and in Gwent, only Monmouthshire recorded a positive tests proportion below the Wales average.

The newly confirmed cases in Wales today, are:

Cardiff - 330

Rhondda Cynon Taf - 279

Bridgend - 238

Caerphilly - 191

Wrexham - 154

Newport - 139

Swansea - 131

Vale of Glamorgan - 122

Neath Port Talbot - 121

Carmarthenshire - 111

Blaenau Gwent - 97

Torfaen - 96

Flintshire - 86

Merthyr Tydfil - 74

Monmouthshire - 56

Denbighshire - 46

Pembrokeshire - 30

Powys - 29

Anglesey - 27

Conwy - 20

Gwynedd - 16

Ceredigion - 14

Unknown location - 16

Resident outside Wales - 87

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.