WALES' coronavirus rolling weekly case rate has slipped under 10 per 100,000 for the first time since last summer.

The rate for the week to May 1, the latest available, is 9.8 per 100,000, with the downward trend continuing through April.

The rolling weekly case rate across Gwent for the week to May 1 is 13.6 per 100,000.

There have been four new confirmed cases in Gwent today, out of 34 across Wales.

Gwent has now gone 18 days without a new confirmed coronavirus death, the longest period since last summer, but there has been one new confirmed death due to coronavirus today in the rest of Wales.

The number of cases confirmed in Wales since the pandemic began now stands at 211,726, including 41,577 in Gwent, while the number of deaths in Wales now stands at 5,552, including 959 in Gwent - all according to Public Health Wales.

The number of first doses of coronavirus vaccine administered in Wales rose by more than 11,200 yesterday, to 1,884,372. And more than 15,800 people had their second dose yesterday, taking to 798,925 the number who have now completed their two-dose vaccine course.

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Blaenau Gwent (2.9 per 100,000) has the lowest rolling weekly case rate in Gwent and the third lowest rate of Wales' 22 council areas, to May 1. Monmouthshire (5.3) has the seventh lowest rate in Wales.

Newport (25.9 per 100,000) continues to have the highest rate in Wales, for the week to May 1. Caerphilly (12.7) has the fourth highest rate in Wales, and Torfaen (11.7) has the fifth highest.

With case rates currently so low, and continuing to fall, even small fluctuations in new case numbers can have a big effect, often on a daily basis in terms of rolling weekly case rates.

Fifteen council areas in Wales currently have rolling weekly case rates of below 10 per 100,000, with only Newport having a rate above 20 per 100,000.

Denbighshire - which recorded no new cases in the week to May 1 and therefore has a zero rolling weekly case rate - and Ceredigion (2.8) have the lowest case rates in Wales, to that date.

The Wales-wide test positivity rate for the week to May 1 is 1.1 per cent. Newport (2.4 per cent) has the highest test positivity rate in Gwent and Wales.

The confirmed new cases today in Wales are:

Cardiff - seven

Gwynedd - three

Ceredigion - three

Pembrokeshire - three

Powys - three

Monmouthshire - two

Newport - two

Anglesey - two

Flintshire - two

Wrexham - two

Vale of Glamorgan - one

Bridgend - one

Rhondda Cynon Taf - one

Neath Port Talbot - one

Swansea - one

Blaenau Gwent - none

Caerphilly - none

Torfaen - none

Conwy - none

Denbighshire - none

Merthyr Tydfil - none

Carmarthenshire - none

Unknown location - none

Resident outside Wales - none

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.