THE number of people in Gwent confirmed as having died of coronavirus has today topped 700, according to Public Health Wales.
Six further deaths have been confirmed in Gwent (Aneurin Bevan University Health Board) area today, taking the total to 701.
They are among 25 newly confirmed deaths across Wales, with the Wales-wide total now 3,645, again according to Public Health Wales.
They were also a further 340 cases confirmed across Gwent today, taking the total since the pandemic began to 32,252. The new cases are among 1,898 across Wales, with the overal total now 157,209.
The newly confirmed cases in Gwent are: Caerphilly, 123; Newport, 69; Blaenau Gwent, 60; Torfaen, 59; Monmouthshire, 29.
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The rolling weekly case rate for Wales, for the week to December 30, was 451.1 per 100,000 population.
Newport had the highest weekly case rate in Gwent for that period, at 579.9 per 100,000, which is the fourth highest in Wales out of its 22 council areas.
Torfaen’s rate of 554.5 is the fifth highest in Wales, with Blaenau Gwent (531) the seventh highest, Caerphilly (508.1) the 10th highest, and Monmouthshire (316.1), the seventh lowest.
More than quarter (25.6 per cent) of everyone tested for coronavirus in Wales in the week to December 30, tested positive. three areas of Gwent – Newport, Torfaen and Caerphilly, had higher positivity rates.
The newly confirmed cases today across Wales are as follows:
Cardiff – 204
Bridgend – 178
Rhondda Cynon Taf – 156
Swansea – 145
Caerphilly – 123
Carmarthenshire – 116
Vale of Glamorgan – 94
Wrexham – 93
Flintshire – 91
Neath Port Talbot – 86
Newport – 69
Merthyr Tydfil – 67
Denbighshire – 62
Blaenau Gwent – 60
Torfaen – 59
Powys – 47
Monmouthshire – 29
Conwy – 29
Pembrokeshire – 23
Gwynedd – 15
Ceredigion – 15
Unknown location – 21
Resident outside Wales – 102
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.
