No backslapping, no bonhomie? EU summit opens with Covid-19 safeguards

Leaders gathering for Brussels talks are asked to wear masks on arrival and avoid shaking hands

The air will be freshly piped, the rooms deep-cleaned, and handshakes will be banned. As EU leaders gather for their first physical meeting in Brussels to thrash out a coronavirus recovery plan, no effort has been spared to avoid a local outbreak of the disease.

The two-day meeting, thought to be the largest gathering of world leaders since the start of the pandemic, will be the first featuring all 27 heads of state and government since February, when an attempt to agree the EU's 1tn seven-year budget collapsed in acrimony. On Friday and Saturday, they will return to the same task and will also seek to hammer out a 750bn (689bn) recovery plan in response to the biggest economic shock forecast in EU history.