THE latest figures from Public Health Wales have confirmed a grim statistic – Gwent has had 1,000 recorded deaths due to Covid-19.

This unwanted statistic has been on hold for some time, especially when considering how frequent deaths were earlier in the pandemic.

According to the data, Gwent has made up 17.2 per cent of the total death toll in Wales, which stands at 5,814.

It must be remembered that the figures are recorded by Public Health Wales, while the Office of National Statistics (ONS) state that deaths in Gwent had already hit 1,000 long ago.

In fact, the ONS figures state that Gwent has had 1,584 deaths – an absolutely huge difference.

The difference is apparently because the analysis is based on the date the death was registered, not when it occurred and the Public Health Wales data is based solely on hospital cases.

Even so, the huge difference cannot be explained and it is unlikely that we will ever know the true death toll of the pandemic.

Gwent was one of the first areas in Wales to be hit by the virus back in February 2020.

Cases in Gwent were far higher than the national average early on in the pandemic, Gwent recorded 358 cases while Wales had 741 in total on March 26, 2020.

For unknown reasons the virus’ time in Wales began in Gwent then spread slowly west, although some have speculated that Gwent’s proximity to England and the M4 corridor led to the area being hit first.

By far the darkest hour in Gwent was last winter, with Gwent reaching 500 deaths by December 19.

This number rose to 750 by January 11, 2021, a total boosted by a staggering 100 deaths in the first fortnight of the new year.

However, it should be taken into account that the deaths would have been slightly more spread out than the figures first suggest – the holidays created a backlog of cases recorded.

Deaths from the virus have decreased significantly since March of this year, as exampled by there being 950 deaths by March 18 and it taking six months to reach 1,000 deaths.

While there were deaths in Wales and indeed in Gwent over this time, full weeks could go by without there being a single death recorded.

This is likely because of the influence that the vaccine has had, with the vast majority of vulnerable people receiving their jabs.

So far, 2,377,009 people have had their first jab, while 2,209,568 have had both vaccinations.

Hopefully, the introduction of a third booster shot will keep people safe over the winter.

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Worryingly, the death toll has begun to creep up yet again and governments have indicated that some measures will have to be taken if things continue to worsen.

Mark Drakeford has introduced Covid passports for large social events in Wales.

The measure involves people proving that they are vaccinated and therefore will be able to attend large social gatherings.

It is hoped that measures like this, as well as mass vaccination, will stop the NHS becoming overwhelmed.

Stopping the NHS becoming overwhelmed will go a long way to keeping the amount of deaths in Gwent, Wales and the rest of the UK to the minimum amount.