SEVEN more people have died in Wales – including six in Gwent – after testing positive for the coronavirus as the devastating disease continues to take its toll.

The last week has seen the total number of infections in the UK soar to more than 5,000 and claim close to 250 lives.

Five people died at Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital and one at Abergavenny’s Nevill Hall Hospital, taking the total number of deaths in Wales to 12 and a further 347 have tested positive for the virus.

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The past week saw prime minister Boris Johnson make the momentous decision to order cafes, pubs and restaurants to close from Friday night – except for take-away food – to tackle coronavirus.

All of the UK’s nightclubs, theatres, cinemas, gyms and leisure centres were told to shut “as soon as they reasonably can”.

Mr Johnson has said the situation would be reviewed each month.

The government also said it will pay 80 per cent of wages for employees who are not able to work, up to £2,500 a month.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the new measures to help out-of-work employees were “unprecedented”.

He appealed to employers to stand by their workers during the crisis, in the wake of many firms warning of collapse.

Most of the country’s schools closed their doors to a majority of pupils indefinitely on Friday, in an effort to stem the spread of the virus.

Many are due to reopen on Monday with a skeleton staff to accommodate the children of “key workers”.

The list of key workers includes doctors, nurses, police officers, armed forces personnel, firefighters, prison staff, those essential to the justice system, employees involved in food production and waste disposal workers.

GCSE and A-level exams this summer have been cancelled for Welsh students.

Education minister Kirsty Williams has vowed however that Year 11 and Year 13 students will still get grades to allow them to continue into further education or jobs.

She said she hopes there will still be the traditional results days in August but the announcement has left many pupils, teachers and parents in limbo wondering how qualifications will be awarded.

Newport-based Qualifications Wales, an independent organisation responsible for regulating general and vocational qualifications in Wales, said “cancelling exams for summer 2020 is the right decision”.

The body said: “We are working with Welsh Government, WJEC and fellow UK regulators to ensure that learners due to sit their GCSEs and A levels will be awarded a fair grade to recognise their work.

“We appreciate people will want to know more and we will share further details as soon as we possibly can.”

The Department for Education said students in England will be awarded grades based on teacher assessments.

Pupils will receive a calculated grade. This will be reached taking into account a number of factors. Teachers will be asked to give their judgment about the grade they think the student would have received if exams had gone ahead.

They will consider evidence and data including performance on mock exams and non-exam assessment, and exam boards will then combine that information with other data, including previous attainment, to come up with the calculated grade.

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Students will be able to appeal if they do not believe the correct process has been followed in their case, the department said.

They will also have the option to sit an exam early in the next academic year – which starts in September – if they want to.

Pupils can also choose to sit their exams in summer 2021.

Supermarkets are taking measures to help shoppers during the outbreak, particularly for the elderly and vulnerable.

As thousands of customers stockpiled on products in a panic-buying frenzy, many were left facing empty shelves at the supermarkets during their food shop.

Tesco has prioritised a one-hour slot for the elderly and vulnerable every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9am in all of its stores with the exception of Express stores.

NHS staff are also able to visit large stores one hour before the usual store opening time every Sunday from March 22.

Customers are only able to buy three items of the same product with the removal of multi-buy promotions.

Sainsbury’s has dedicated the first hour in every supermarket to elderly and vulnerable customers.

The supermarket will also give customers aged over 70 and those with a disability priority access to online delivery slots from Monday.

It is also planning to expand its click and collect service by adding more collection sites from Monday.