wales No new confirmed Gwent coronavirus deaths for third day NO new coronavirus deaths have been confirmed in Gwent for a third day in a row, though four more people have died across Wales. The latest confirmed deaths take the total in Wales since the pandemic began to 5,250, including 934 in Gwent (Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area), according to Public Health Wales. There have been 317 new confirmed cases across Wales today, including 48 in Gwent, as follows: Newport, 14; Caerphilly, 13; Torfaen, 13; Blaenau Gwent five; Monmouthshire, three. Since the pandemic began, again according to Public Health Wales, there have been 202,324 confirmed cases in Wales, including 39,919 in Gwent. The latest available rolling weekly case rate for coronavirus in Gwent - for the week to February 18 - is 78.8 per 100,000, slightly below the all-Wales rate (78.9). There continue to be small fluctuations in case rates in individual council areas in Gwent and other parts of Wales, though the overall trend remains downward, albeit at a slower pace.

toronto Ontario is expanding asymptomatic COVID-19 testing in schools. Here's what you need to know 'We really want to try and look for it and find it before it spreads,' says infectious disease doctor Asymptomatic testing for COVID-19 in schools is ramping up across Ontario, following a directive from Education Minister Stephen Lecce earlier this month. In this expansion of an earlier testing pilot effort in the fall, the province is calling for larger school boards to test at least five per cent of elementary and secondary schools weekly, with a goal of reaching about two per cent of the student population in the province. The campaign began with schools in areas such as Ottawa, Toronto, Peel and York Region over the past few weeks. We asked experts to explain what's behind this push, what's been blocking families from testing and how the new variants factor into this initiative. Why is this being introduced? Dr. Janine McCready of Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto was among the infectious disease physicians who worked with public health and education officials to conduct full-scale COVID-19 testing in schools that had outbreaks last fall. At one school in a hot spot area, the team discovered between four and five per cent of students without symptoms nonetheless tested positive for COVID-19, McCready said. That underlines the value of being proactive with asymptomatic testing, as another layer of protection against the coronavirus. "We don't want to wait until there's a number of cases in the school," she said. "We really want to try and look for it and find it before it spreads within the classes. " She said while staff conducting in-person classes have done an "amazing" job implementing several layers of safety measures in classrooms, "you'd like to prevent as much as possible."