CORONAVIRUS and related deaths in Gwent have topped 1,000, according to the Office for National Statistics, with the area among the two worst hit by the virus in Wales, according to the organisation.

Based on ONS figures to the week ending January 1, coronavirus was recorded as a factor on the death certificates of 1,060 people in Gwent, since the pandemic began.

This is the measure used by the ONS to record coronavirus deaths, and its figures are higher than those published by Public Health Wales.

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 test, those who died in other settings, or Welsh residents who died outside Wales.

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The ONS puts the Wales-wide death toll - directly or as a factor - at 4,957 for the week to New Year’s Day, the latest for which its figures are available.

Public Health Wales had confirmed 3,494 deaths as of December 31, and did not publish updated figures on January 1.

Only the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board area (1,085), had a higher number of deaths than Gwent (Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area) to January 1, according to the ONS.

Another unwanted milestone yesterday was confirmation of 11 deaths in Gwent by Public Health Wales, taking the toll in the area by its measure to 100 so far in 2021, out of more than 600 across Wales.

A further 1,644 cases were confirmed in Wales yesterday by Public Health Wales, with 285 of these in Gwent.

By the end of Wednesday, almost 113,000 people in Wales had received a first dose of coronavirus vaccine.