BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th July, 2020) Organizers of the first in-person summit among EU leaders since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, which kicked off earlier in the day in Brussels, have taken all the necessary measures to ensure the safety of the participants, the European Council said on Friday.
"EU leaders are meeting physically in Brussels for the first time since the #COVID19 outbreak. Several hygiene measures make sure that everybody stays safe during the meeting," the council wrote on Twitter.
The measures include maintaining a social distance of 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) between participants at all times, wearing protective masks if the distance is not respected, the deep-cleaning of rooms during every break, the use of special door handles, microphones and headsets, as well as disinfectant gel. In addition, the summit is taking place in the biggest room, seating up to 330 people, and the rooms are ventilated with only fresh air.
During the two-day summit, the EU leaders are set to agree on the bloc's long-term budget totaling 1.074 trillion Euros ($1.226 trillion) and the largest economic recovery plan, worth 750 billion euros, which is to include 500 billion euros in grants and 250 billion euros in loans for EU nations.
