THE coronavirus case rate in Wales is edging down again after a small increase last week - but overall, the position is stable.

The rolling weekly case rate to March 20 - the latest available - is 39.1 cases per 100,000 people, with the rate for Gwent for the same period at 40.5 per 100,000.

There have been four new coronavirus deaths confirmed in Wales today, with the number of deaths since the pandemic began now at 5,495, according to Public Health Wales. There have been no new deaths confirmed in Gwent for four days, and the total here remains at 952.

There have been 35 new cases confirmed in Gwent today, out of 227 in Wales.

Since the pandemic began, there have been 41,087 confirmed coronavirus cases in Gwent, out of 208,504 across Wales.

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

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In Wales, by the end of yesterday, 1,320,188 people have had a first dose of coronavirus vaccine and 378,795 have now had a second dose.

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Monmouthshire (14.8 per 100,000) continues to have the lowest rolling weekly case rate in Gwent - to March 20 - and has the second lowest rate of Wales' 22 council areas. Torfaen (16.0) has the third lowest rate in Wales.

Blaenau Gwent (74.4) has the third highest rate in Wales, Newport (51.1) has the sixth highest rate, and Caerphilly (46.4) has the ninth highest rate.

Ceredigion, with 9.6 per 100,000, and Monmouthshire (14.8) have the two lowest rolling weekly case rates in Wales, to March 18.

Merthyr Tydfil (127.6) and Anglesey (94.2) have the two highest rolling weekly case rates in Wales.

The newly confirmed cases across Wales today are:

Swansea - 39

Cardiff - 26

Newport - 14

Merthyr Tydfil - 13

Flintshire - 11

Carmarthenshire - 11

Wrexham - 11

Caerphilly - 10

Neath Port Talbot - nine

Gwynedd - nine

Anglesey - eight

Bridgend - eight

Conwy - seven

Monmouthshire - seven

Rhondda Cynon Taf - seven

Powys - seven

Vale of Glamorgan - six

Pembrokeshire - six

Denbighshire - four

Torfaen - three

Blaenau Gwent - one

Ceredigion - none

Unknown location - four

Resident outside Wales - six

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.