SEVEN new coronavirus deaths have been confirmed in Gwent today, out of a further 44 in Wales.

The new deaths confirmed by Public Health Wales take the total in Gwent (Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area) since the pandemic began to 817, and across Wales to 4,346.

There have also been a further 1,283 cases confirmed throughout Wales today, again by Public Health Wales, taking the total to 183,882, of which 237 are in Gwent.

The rolling weekly case rate for Wales has continued downward, with the rate to the week ending January 15, at 284.8 per 100,000 population.

Eleven further deaths have been confirmed in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB area today, along with 10 in the Betsi Cadwaladr UHB area (north Wales), seven in the Swansea Bay UHB area, five in the Hywel Dda UHB area (west Wales), and four in the Cardiff & Vale UHB area.  

Today's confirmed cases in Gwent area: Newport, 80; Caerphilly, 74; Torfaen, 46; Monmouthhsire, 26; Blaenau Gwent, 11.

Almost 14,000 more people in Wales received a first dose of coronavirus vaccines yesterday, taking the total to 175,816.

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Newport, with a rate to January 15 of 313.6 per 100,000, is the only part of Gwent to have recorded a slight increase for that week, though the rate remains much lower than at the start of January.

The city has the highest rate in Gwent and the sixth highest of Wales' 22 council areas. Torfaen (265) has the 11th highest rate in Wales.

Caerphilly (243.5) has the 13th highest rate in Wales . Monmouthshire (196.6) has the seventh lowest rate in Wales.

The rate in Blaenau Gwent (178.9) continues to fall, and having been the highest in Wales just a few weeks ago, the rate in the county borough now has the fourth lowest.

Wrexham (673 per 100,000) and Flintshire (480.5) continue to have the highest rolling weekly case rates in Wales, but these rates are continuing to fall.

The all-Wales test positivity rate for the week to January 15 is 16.7 per cent, or around one-in-six, and has continued to fall in recent days.

Newport (17.1 per cent) is the only one of the five council areas of Gwent to have a test positivity rate higher than the all-Wales average for the same period.

The newly confirmed cases across Wales today are:

Cardiff - 159

Wrexham - 122

Flintshire - 100

Newport - 80

Rhondda Cynon Taf - 76

Caerphilly - 74

Carmarthenshire - 70

Swansea - 69

Bridgend - 63

Vale of Glamorgan - 55

Torfaen - 46

Neath Port Talbot - 42

Denbighshire - 38

Powys - 33

Gwynedd - 31

Monmouthshire - 26

Conwy - 25

Pembrokeshire - 23

Merthyr Tydfil - 22

Blaenau Gwent - 11

Ceredigion - 11

Anglesey - nine

Unknown location - 15

Resident outside Wales - 83

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.