THE coronavirus rolling weekly case rates for Gwent and Wales remain stable for the week to March 18, the latest available, and are almost identical.

The rate for Gwent for that period is 41.4 cases per 100,000 people, while for Wales it is 41.5 per 100,000.

And for the second day in a row, there have been no new coronavirus deaths confirmed in Wales, with the number of deaths in Wales since the pandemic began remaining at 5,488, including 952 in Gwent, according to Public Health Wales.

There have been 20 new cases confirmed in Gwent today, out of 127 in Wales, both figures among the lowest for a single day since the early days of both last autumn and the second wave of coronavirus.

Since the pandemic began, there have been 41,022 confirmed coronavirus cases in Gwent, out of 208,119 across Wales.

Today's newly confirmed cases in Gwent, are: Newport, sevcn; Blaenau Gwent, six; Caerphilly, three; Torfaen, three; Monmouthshire, one.

In Wales, by the end of yesterday, 1,288,250 people have had a first dose of coronavirus vaccine, and 353,347 people in Wales have now had a second dose.

READ MORE:

Sign up to the South Wales Argus daily coronavirus update email newsletter by registering here.

Monmouthshire (13.7 per 100,000) continues to have the lowest rolling weekly case rate in Gwent - to March 18 - and has the second lowest rate of Wales' 22 council areas. Torfaen (22.3) has the fifth lowest rate in Wales.

Blaenau Gwent (61.5) has the fourth highest rate in Wales, Newport (55) has the seventh highest rate, and Caerphilly (46.4) has the ninth highest rate.

Ceredigion, with 11 per 100,000, and Monmouthshire (13.7) have the two lowest rolling weekly case rates in Wales, to March 18.

Merthyr Tydfil (111.1) and Anglesey (107.1) and have the two highest rolling weekly case rates in Wales.

The Wales-wide test positivity rate for the week to March 18, was 3.4 per cent. Blaenau Gwent (4.4 per cent) has the highest test positivity rate in Gwent.

The newly confirmed cases across Wales today are:

Merthyr Tydfil - 15

Flintshire - 13

Neath Port Talbot - 12

Rhondda Cynon Taf - eight

Swansea - eight

Newport - seven

Blaenau Gwent - six

Anglesey - six

Conwy - six

Powys - six

Cardiff - five

Vale of Glamorgan - five

Carmarthenshire - four

Caerphilly - three

Torfaen - three

Denbighshire - three

Wrexham - three

Pembrokeshire - two

Monmouthshire - one

Gwynedd - one

Ceredigion - one

Bridgend - none

Unknown location - none

Resident outside Wales - nine

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.