MORE than 160 deaths from coronavirus have been confirmed across Gwent this month, with five new fatalities today taking the total during the pandemic to 840, according to Public Health Wales.

Today's confirmed deaths are among a further 27 in Wales, with the total since the pandemic began now 4,486.

There have been 1,079 more cases confirmed today in Wales, also by Public Health Wales, including 171 in Gwent.

And rolling weekly case rates have continued to fall, across Wales as a whole, and in four areas of Gwent.

Nine new deaths have been confirmed today in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board area, taking the total there above 1,300. Six more deaths have been confirmed in the Swansea Bay UHB area, three each in the Betsi Cadwaladr (north Wale) and Cardiff & Vale UHB areas, and one in the Powys Teaching Health Board area.

There have been 164 coronavirus deaths confirmed in Gwent during January, out of 992 across Wales.

The new cases confirmed in Gwent today are: Caerphilly, 59; Newport, 51; Blaenau Gwent, 22; Torfaen, 21; Monmouthshire, 18.

The number of people who have received a first dose of coronavirus vaccine in Wales is now 240,547, including more than 28,000 yesterday.

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The all-Wales rolling weekly case rate - to the week ending January 18 - was 260.9 per 100,000 population, continuing a steady downward trend, and down from more than 400 per 100,000 two weeks ago.

Rates across Gwent have similarly fallen during that period.

Newport, with a rate to January 18 of 311.6 per 100,000, has the highest rate in Gwent and the fifth highest of Wales' 22 council areas. The rate in the city has remained similar for the past week, falling slightly on some days, and increasing slightly on others.

Torfaen (240.5) has the 11th highest rate in Wales, and Caerphilly (222) the 13th highest. Monmouthshire (153.3) has the third lowest rate in Wales.

The rate in Blaenau Gwent (151.7) continues the downward trend it has followed during January, and having been the highest in Wales just a few weeks ago, is now the second lowest, behind only Anglesey (139.9).

Wrexham (609.8 per 100,000) and Flintshire (453.6) have the two highest rolling weekly case rates in Wales, though these rates have fallen considerably too, over recent days.

Test positivity rates remain high, though again they are falling across much of Wales.

The all-Wales rate for the week to January 18 was 16.3 per cent. Only one part of Gwent - Newport, with 17.6 per cent - had a higher test positivity rate for the same period.

The newly confirmed cases across Wales today are:

Wrexham - 126

Cardiff - 105

Carmarthenshire - 85

Rhondda Cynon Taf - 78

Flintshire - 72

Swansea - 61

Caerphilly - 59

Newport - 51

Bridgend - 42

Vale of Glamorgan - 40

Denbighshire - 36

Pembrokeshire - 35

Powys - 35

Neath Port Talbot - 31

Conwy - 24

Blaenau Gwent - 22

Torfaen - 21

Gwynedd - 20

Monmouthshire - 18

Merthyr Tydfil - 15

Anglesey - 12

Ceredigion - two

Unknown location - 15

Resident outside Wales - 74

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.