CORONAVIRUS has taken a further eight lives in Gwent, Public Health Wales has confirmed today, with these deaths being among another 23 across Wales.

And there have been a further 277 cases confirmed in Gwent today, out of 1,048 across Wales.

Rolling weekly case rates in four of the five Gwent council areas increased again today, with only that in Monmouthshire falling slightly.

The eight newly comfirmed deaths in Gwent mean that according to Public Health Wales, 419 people in the area have died of coronavoirus since the pandemic began, out of 2,307 across Wales.

There were six more deaths confirmed today in the Betsi Cadwaladr (north Wales) University Health Board area, five in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB area, four in the Swansea Bay UHB area, and one in the Hywel Dda (west Wales) UHB area. One death previously recorded in the Cardiff & Vale UHB area has been removed from the totals.

Public Health Wales states that the number of cases across Wales since the pandemic began now stands at 69,497, with 11,965 of these in Gwent.

Today's newly confirmed cases in Gwent are: Caerphilly, 87; Newport, 72; Blaenau Gwent, 57; Torfaen, 35; Monmouthshire, 26.

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Some parts of Wales, notably in the north, are showing a downward trend in rolling weekly case rates, but others, notably Gwent have seen these rates rising in recent days.

The rolling weekly case rate - to November 16 - for Wales as a whole is 164.5 per 100,000 population, marginally down for the second day in a row.

But that in Blaenau Gwent, after a slight fall yesterday, has risen to 356.4 per 100,000, and remains the highest in Wales.

And in three other parts of Gwent - Caerphilly, Newport and Torfaen - the rolling weekly case rate rose again. In Caerphilly it is now 251.8 per 100,000, in Newport 196.5, and in Torfaen 176.7.

The rate in Monmouthshire fell slightly, to 138.5 per 100,000.

Merthyr Tydfil's case rate, recently the highest in the UK, fell again, to 256.9 per 100,000.

Blaenau Gwent (19.2 per cent) and Caerphilly (18.2 per cent) currently have the highest proportions of positive test results for coronavirus in Wales.

The newly confirmed cases today across Wales are as follows:

Cardiff - 130

Rhondda Cynon Taf - 111

Caerphilly - 87

Swansea - 87

Newport - 72

Neath Port Talbot - 67

Bridgend - 62

Blaenau Gwent - 57

Flintshire - 51

Carmarthenshire - 42

Vale of Glamorgan - 41

Powys - 37

Torfaen - 35

Wrexham - 27

Monmouthshire - 26

Pembrokeshire - 24

Merthyr Tydfil - 17

Denbighshire - 11

Gwynedd - seven

Ceredigion - seven

Conwy - six

Anglesey - five

Unknown location - seven

Resident outside Wales - 40

Public Health Wales figures for coronavirus deaths include only those that have been confirmed by a laboratory test. 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.