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Covid vaccination is safe for pregnant women and not associated with higher rates of complications, according to new data released in the UK today.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that data from Covid vaccine rollout in Britain supports other studies around the world that vaccines are safe to give at any stage of pregnancy.

It found no substantial differences in rates of stillbirths, low birth weights and the proportion of premature births.

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at UKHSA, said:

Every pregnant woman who has not yet been vaccinated should feel confident to go and get the jab, and that this will help to prevent the serious consequences of catching Covid-19 in pregnancy.

The data found that vaccinated women had a stillbirth rate of 3.35 per 1,000, slightly lower than the rate of 3.60 per 1,000 in unvaccinated women.

The proportion of women giving birth prematurely was 6.51% for vaccinated people, slightly higher than 5.99% for unvaccinated women.

The government is urging pregnant women who have not yet been vaccinated to do so. It said that 98% of pregnant women in hospital with symptomatic Covid were unvaccinated.

Slovakia has gone into a two-week lockdown – closing non-essential shops and services, restricting movement and banning gatherings of more than six.

Hospitals in the country, which has one of the European Union’s lowest vaccination rates, are in a critical situation, reports Reuters, amid rising new infections.

From Thursday, people are not allowed to leave their district unless for work, school or a doctor.

In the city of Trenčín, musical instrument shop manager Roman Spatny said his income would vanish with another lost Christmas season.

“For us this is a plain knife in the back. We have to be closed at a time that business-wise is the most important for us, same as last year,” he said. “Important decisions are taken from one hour to the next. There is no way to properly react to this.”

Slovakia reported more than 10,000 new cases in each of the past two days, its highest numbers to date.

With 1,929 average daily cases per million population over the past week, it has the world’s highest incidence rate according to Our World in Data.

It has the EU’s third lowest vaccination rate, with only 45.7% of the population vaccinated.

Neighbouring Austria started a lockdown on Monday.

Denmark has announced that it is to follow other European nations by offering a booster Covid vaccine to all adults as cases rise.

The Danish Health Authority said today that the “decline in immunity is also happening for people in the younger age groups”, reports the Associated Press.

Helene Probst, deputy head of the government agency, said:

When we see the epidemic flare up right now, it is primarily due to the transition from summer to autumn and winter, and at the same time we have an open society with only a few restrictions. Combined with the fact that the effect of the vaccines decreases over time, it is expected that the infection will increase.

Like much of Europe, Denmark, has seen a rise in cases, and hospitalisations have risen faster than expected.

Booster shots have already been offered to older people and the vulnerable. Now they will be offered to all adults six months after their second vaccine dose.

Vaccination is voluntary in the country. So far, 88.4% have had one vaccine dose and 86.4% have had two.

The Danish government said said yesterday that it would seek support in parliament to reinstate Covid measures, including mandatory face masks in public places and the use of the Covid-19 digital pass. The health minister, Magnus Heunicke, said that “the Delta variant is far more contagious, and that challenges us”.

It comes after its Scandinavian neighbour Sweden recommended yesterday that everyone aged 18-65 should have a booster shot six months after their second vaccination.

The Irish deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has said that Ireland’s regulator is expected to approve vaccines for five to 11-year-olds in the coming days, reports Reuters.

What is driving Europe’s surge in Covid cases? Here’s a video to explain:

Some hospitals in the Netherlands have stopped chemotherapy and organ transplants to make way for Covid patients in intensive care.

The Dutch Hospital Association for Critical Care said it had asked the health minister, Hugo de Jonge, to escalate the national Covid response plan so that regular care requiring an overnight stay would be cancelled, reports Reuters.

With the number of coronavirus patients in hospitals surging, experts have warned that hospitals will reach full capacity in just over a week if the virus is not contained. Earlier this week several Covid patients were transferred to hospitals in Germany.

“There are hospitals in several regions scaling back care,” a spokesperson for the hospital association said. “We are talking about care that requires a bed. That means a lot of appointments are being cancelled.”

The European Commission has said that by the end of the week the European Union will have delivered 1bn doses of Covid vaccines to member states, reports Reuters.

Scientists in South Africa are working “overtime” to understand the new Covid variant, B.1.1.529, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases has said.

South Africa has confirmed around 100 specimens as B.1.1.529, but the variant has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong, with the Hong Kong case a traveller from South Africa, reports Reuters. As many as 90% of new cases in Gauteng could be B.1.1.529, scientists believe.

South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases said in a statement: “Although the data are limited, our experts are working overtime with all the established surveillance systems to understand the new variant and what the potential implications could be.”

The country has requested an urgent sitting of a World Health Organization (WHO) working group on virus evolution on Friday to talk about the new variant.

The European Medicines Agency, the European Union’s drug regulator, has approved the use of Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid vaccine on children aged five to 11.

The EMA said the dose would be lower than that used in those aged 12 and over, Reuters reports, and will be given as two injections in the upper arm three weeks apart.

The regulator said that it concluded that the benefits for children in the age group outweighed the risks, especially in those with conditions that increase their risk of getting severe Covid.

The EMA said it will now send its recommendation to the European Commission which will make a final decision.

Millions of Americans have got Covid boosters in recent days after the US expanded eligibility to all adults last week.

A total of about 37.5 million people have received booster shots so far. But health officials urged more people to get them amid fears of a rise in infections over the winter holiday season.

“I think it is a good start,” said Dr William Schaffner, a leading infectious disease expert from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told Reuters. “I am hoping for much better. I would like to see all of that doubled very, very quickly.”

The French health minister, Olivier Véran, said face masks have been left behind, especially by the vaccinated who think they have nothing to fear. From tomorrow he said it will be mandatory to wear a mask inside. He said they will also be required at events, including Christmas markets.

He also said that starting in December there will be a new anti-viral drug on the market in France that they are “very hopeful” about.