What is Known: • The COVID-19 lockdown had a series of intended and unintended consequences; some of which may have been beneficial to perinatal outcomes. • Research suggests that preterm births have not significantly changed overall, but they have decreased in high-income countries.

What is New: • In our audit, analysing retrospective data of regional birth and neonatal admission from the South-West of England, we observed a decrease in live birth rates between 2018 and 2020. • A reduction in neonatal unit admissions was observed from 2018 to 2020 with no significant differences across gestational groups. The reduction from 2019 to 2020 was smaller than that from 2018 to 2019 implying that the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was not necessarily implicated.