A SLIGHT increase in Wales' rolling weekly case rate for coronavirus has been recorded for the third day in a row, with the figure for the week ending March 13 at 43.3 per 100,000 people.

The rate in Gwent also rose again slightly too, for that same period, to 42.4 per 100,000.

The increases albeit, small, tally with concerns voiced by health minister Vaughan Gething yesterday over outbreaks in Merthyr Tydfil, Anglesey and Conwy.

More than 20 cases have also been reported at a Cardiff primary school, and Anglesey council has refused to rule out closing schools in an effort to suppress rising case rates there.

One new coronavirus death has been confirmed today in Gwent (Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area), among four across Wales.

The number of deaths in Gwent since the pandemic began now stands at 950, according to Public Health Wales. The total for Wales as a whole is 5,467.

There have been 43 new cases confirmed in Gwent today, out of 297 in Wales, the latter more than twice the number of confirmations than the previous day, and the largest single day number this week.

There have been 40,854 confirmed cases in Gwent since the pandemic began, out of 207,237 across Wales.

Today's newly confirmed cases in Gwent, are: Caerphilly, 14; Blaenau Gwent, 13; Newport, 10; Monmouthshire, five; Torfaen, one.

In Wales, by the end of yesterday, 1,180,155 people have had a first dose of coronavirus vaccine, an increase of almost 23,000. And 304,411 people in Wales have now had a second dose, an increase of more than 15,200.

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Monmouthshire (13.7 per 100,000) continues to have the lowest rolling weekly case rate in Gwent - to March 13 - and now has the second lowest rate of Wales' 22 council areas. Torfaen (31.9) has the ninth lowest rate in Wales.

Blaenau Gwent (57.3) has the fifth highest rate in Wales, Newport (50.4) has the seventh highest rate in Wales, and Caerphilly (50.3) has the eighth highest rate.

Ceredigion, with 6.9 per 100,000, and Monmouthshire (13.7) have the two lowest rolling weekly case rates in Wales, to March 13.

Merthyr Tydfil (159.1) and Anglesey (127.1) and have the two highest rolling weekly case rates in Wales.

The Wales-wide test positivity rate for the week to March 13, was 3.9 per cent. Blaenau Gwent (4.5 per cent) has the highest test positivity rate in Gwent.

The newly confirmed cases across Wales today are:

Flintshire - 36

Cardiff - 25

Swansea - 23

Wrexham - 20

Vale of Glamorgan - 17

Gwynedd - 16

Conwy - 15

Merthyr Tydfil - 15

Caerphilly - 14

Blaenau Gwent - 13

Rhondda Cynon Taf - 13

Carmarthenshire - 13

Anglesey - 11

Newport - 10

Neath Port Talbot - eight

Bridgend - seven

Powys - seven

Denbighshire - six

Monmouthshire - five

Pembrokeshire - five

Ceredigion - four

Torfaen - one

Unknown location - three

Resident outside Wales - 10

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.