Covid-19 health crisis fears ‘may have led to 14% drop in live births in Europe’

(Yui Mok/PA)

Europe saw a 14% drop in the number of babies being born in January 2021 compared with live births in the same month in previous years – likely triggered by fears of a Covid-19 health crisis during the first wave of the pandemic, researchers have said.

Scientists from Switzerland said countries with the toughest lockdowns in early 2020 and over-occupied intensive care units experienced the biggest drops in live births nine to 10 months later.