FIFTEEN more deaths due to coronavirus have been confirmed in Gwent today, among a further 76 across Wales.

The new deaths bring the total in Gwent (Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area) since the pandemic began, to 720, and across Wales to 3,738, according to Public Health Wales.

The neighbouring Cwm Taf Morgannwg and Cardiff & Vale UHB areas have had 21 and 18 new deaths confirmed respectively today, and there have been 16 new deaths in the Swansea Bay UHB area, and a further six in the Hywel Dda (west Wales) UHB area.

The number of cases across Wales since the pandemic began has now topped 160,000, again according to Public Health Wales, with 2,238 cases confirmed today, taking the total to 161,516.

There have been 394 newly confirmed cases across Gwent today, and the total in the area since the pandemic began is now more than 33,000.

Today's newly comfirmed cases in Gwent are: Newport, 112; Caerphilly, 107; Torfaen, 71; Blaenau Gwent, 56; Monmouthshire, 48.

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Rolling weekly case rates across Wales are beginning to rise again after decreases over the festive season due to reporting delays.

The all-Wales rolling weekly case rate for the week to New Year's Day was 484.3 per 100,000 population.

Of Wales's 22 council areas, Bridgend (978.6 per 100,000) has the highest weekly case rate in Wales, followed by Wrexham (838.5).

Newport, with 611 per 100,000, has the highest case rate in Gwent and the fourth highest in Wales.

Torfaen (567.3) has the seventh highest rate in Wales; Blaenau Gwent (566.8) has the eighth highest rate in Wales; Caerphilly (532.9) has the 11th highest rate in Wales; Monmouthshire (348.9) has the seventh lowest rate in Wales.

A quarter (25 per cent) of people tested for coronavirus in Wales in the week to January 1 returned a positive result.

But in Gwent, the rate was higher in Newport (28.4 per cent), Torfaen (27.9 per cent), and Caerphilly (26.9 per cent) - and in Bridgend that week, more than a third of those tested (35.3 per cent) were positive.

The newly confirmed cases across Wales today are:

Cardiff - 247

Bridgend - 194

Wrexham - 189

Rhondda Cynon Taf - 182

Swansea - 155

Neath Port Talbot - 143

Flintshire - 124

Newport - 112

Vale of Glamorgan - 108

Caerphilly - 107

Carmarthenshire - 83

Torfaen - 71

Blaenau Gwent - 56

Merthyr Tydfil - 56

Monmouthshire - 48

Pembrokeshire - 47

Denbighshire - 42

Powys - 39

Anglesey - 36

Ceredigion - 26

Conwy - 25

Gwynedd - 19

Unknown location - 22

Resident outside Wales - 107

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.