FIVE new coronavirus deaths have been recorded in Gwent today by Public Health Wales, among 16 across Wales.

And there have been 193 newly confirmed cases today in Gwent, among 1,332 throughout Wales.

Rolling weekly case rates have continued to fall in many areas, with the all-Wales rate - to January 7 - at 403.5 per 100,000 population.

The total number of deaths in Wales since the pandemic began, again according to Public Health Wales, is now 3,997, with 755 of these in the Gwent (Aneurin Bevan Universeity Health Board) area.

There have been 172,879 confirmed cases in Wales since the pandemic began, including 35,029 in Gwent. Today's cases in Gwent are: Newport, 68; Caerphilly, 47; Torfaen, 40; Monmouthshire, 25; Blaenau Gwent, 13.

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The aforementioned all-Wales rolling weekly case rate - and those of the five council areas in Gwent - have all fallen in the past week.

Torfaen, with a rate to January 7 of 520.4 per 100,000, has the highest rate in Gwent and the fifth highest of Wales' 22 council areas.

Blaenau Gwent (449.5) has the sixth highest rate in Wales, Newport (449.3) has the seventh highest rate in Wales, and Caerphilly (396) has the 10th highest rate in Wales. Monmouthshire (306.6) has the eighth lowest rate in Wales.

Wrexham (853.2 per 100,000) and Flintshire (682.3) have the two highest rolling weekly case rates in Wales, reflecting impact of the newer, more infectious strain of coronavirus in north Wales.

Test positivity rates remain high, but have also fallen in many areas of Wales in the past week, with the overall rate for the week to January 7 being 20.6 per cent.

Two areas of Gwent continue to have test positivity rates higher than that all-Wales average - Torfaen (23.7 per cent) and Newport (21.3 per cent). The rate in Wrexham is the highest in Wales, at 29.7 per cent.

The newly confirmed cases across Wales today are:

Wrexham - 140

Cardiff - 131

Rhondda Cynon Taf - 110

Bridgend - 86

Swansea - 85

Carmarthenshire - 83

Flintshire - 82

Newport - 68

Neath Port Talbot - 58

Caerphilly - 47

Torfaen - 40

Vale of Glamorgan - 33

Pembrokeshire - 32

Gwynedd - 31

Powys - 30

Denbighshire - 27

Monmouthshire - 25

Merthyr Tydfil - 25

Conwy - 18

Ceredigion - 17

Anglesey - 16

Blaenau Gwent - 13

Unknown location - 17

Resident outside Wales - 98

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.