THE rolling weekly case rate for coronavirus in Gwent - to March 27, the latest available - has fallen to 28.1 per 100,000 people, the lowest since last autumn.

And the overall rate for Wales to the same date is 35 per 100,000, again the lowest for several months.

The new 'lows' have been confirmed by Public Health Wales as further details of lockdown easing have been announced today for Wales.

A further 24 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Gwent today, among 188 across Wales.

There have been 209,532 new cases in Wales since the pandemic began, according to Public Health Wales, including 41,223 in Gwent. Today's new Gwent cases are: Newport, seven; Blaenau Gwent, five; Caerphilly, five; Monmouthshire, five; Torfaen, two.

This is also the 11th day in a row on which there have been no new deaths due to coronavirus confirmed in Gwent.

But two new deaths have been confirmed across Wales today. It means the number of confirmed deaths in Wales since the pandemic began is now 5,509, again according to public Health Wales, including 952 in Gwent.

The vaccination programme continues apace, and in Wales by the end of yesterday, 1,443,885 people have had a first dose of coronavirus vaccine, a daily increase of just over 16,600. More than 11,600 people had their second dose yesterday, taking the total in Wales to 449,538.

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Caerphilly (24.9 per 100,000) has the lowest rolling weekly case rate in Gwent - to March 27 - and the ninth lowest of Wales' 22 council areas.

Monmouthshire (25.4 per 100,000) has the 10th lowest rate, Blaenau Gwent (25.8) has the 11th lowest rate, and Torfaen (26.6 cases per 100,000 people) has the 12th lowest rate in Wales.

Newport (35.6) has the eighth highest rate in Wales, though the latest case rate for the city is the lowest in many months.

Ceredigion, with 4.1 per 100,000, and Powys (13.6) have the two lowest rolling weekly case rates in Wales, to March 27.

Merthyr Tydfil (97.8) and Anglesey (97.1) have the two highest rolling weekly case rates in Wales.

The Wales-wide test positivity rate for the week to March 27 is 2.5 per cent. Newport and Monmouthshire (2.3 per cent) have the highest test positivity rate in Gwent.

The newly confirmed cases across Wales today are:

Cardiff - 38

Swansea - 20

Neath Port Talbot - 12

Flintshire - 11

Anglesey - 10

Carmarthenshire - nine

Denbighshire - eight

Pembrokeshire - eight

Newport - seven

Gwynedd - six

Rhondda Cynon Taf - six

Blaenau Gwent - five

Caerphilly - five

Monmouthshire - five

Conwy - five

Wrexham - five

Vale of Glamorgan - five

Bridgend - four

Ceredigion - four

Torfaen - two

Merthyr Tydfil - two

Powys - two

Unknown location - two

Resident outside Wales - six

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.