NINE more deaths from coronavirus have been confirmed in Gwent today, among 49 across Wales, as fatalities remain high, while cases continue to fall.

According to Public Health Wales, there have now been 864 coronavirus deaths in Gwent (Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area) since the pandemic began, among 4,610 across Wales.

Eleven Covid-19 deaths have been confirmed today in both the Cardiff & Vale and Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB areas, 10 in the Betsi Cadwaladr UHB area (north Wales), four in the Swansea Bay UHB area, and three in the Hywel Dda UHB area (west Wales). One death today has been classed as being 'resident outside Wales'.

There have been 537 new cases confirmed across Wales today, including 120 in Gwent, the latter as follows: Caerphilly, 38; Newport, 35; Torfaen, 30; Monmouthshire, nine; Blaenau Gwent, eight.

There have now been 189,689 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Wales since the pandemic began, including 37,715 in Gwent.

Rolling weekly case rates have continued to fall, across Wales as a whole.

The number of people who have received a first dose of coronavirus vaccine in Wales is now 312,305, including almost 23,000 yesterday.

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The all-Wales rolling weekly case rate - to the week ending January 22 - was 203.8 per 100,000 population, continuing the downward trend of recent weeks. The rate has halved in the last two weeks (417 per 100,000 to the week ending January 8).

Newport, with a rate to January 22 of 243.7 per 100,000 - falling again after stalling somewhat in the middle of last week - has the highest rolling weekly case rate in Gwent, and the fourth highest in Wales.

Caerphilly (193.8) has the eighth highest rate in Wales, while Torfaen (174.5) has the 13th highest rate in Wales.

The rate for the week to January 22 in Blaenau Gwent (148.9) is the sixth lowest in Wales, while Monmouthshire (135.3) now has the third lowest rolling weekly case rate in Wales, behind Conwy (127.1) and Swansea (134).

Wrexham (503.1 per 100,000) and Flintshire (384.4) continue to have the two highest rolling weekly case rates in Wales, though these continue to fall too.

The test positivity rate across Wales for the week to January 22 was 14.2 per cent, meaning around one-in-seven people tested returned a positive result for coronavirus. This remains too high, while continuing to fall.

Newport's test positivity rate to the same date - 14.9 per cent - is the only part of Gwent to record a higher test positivity rate for the same period.

The newly confirmed cases across Wales today are:

Wrexham - 59

Cardiff - 53

Caerphilly - 38

Newport - 35

Swansea - 31

Torfaen - 30

Flintshire - 30

Rhondda Cynon Taf - 29

Bridgend - 26

Carmarthenshire - 25

Conwy - 19

Neath Port Talbot - 19

Pembrokeshire - 14

Vale of Glamorgan - 13

Anglesey - 12

Denbighshire - 11

Monmouthshire - nine

Blaenau Gwent - eight

Merthyr Tydfil - seven

Powys - six

Gwynedd - five

Ceredigion - five

Unknown location - 12

Resident outside Wales - 41

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.