Covid outbreak fears at EU summit as Finnish PM leaves to self-isolate a day after Ursula von der Leyen gets trace alert

CORONAVIRUS fears rocked the EU leaders summit today as the Finnish Prime Minister was forced to self-isolate.

Sanna Marin left Brussels as a "precaution" to fly home to take a Covid-19 test - a day after EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also went into quarantine.

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No chances are being taken for an outbreak at the event as EU leaders were all pictured wearing mask and trying to keeping their distance.

Ms Marin had attended a meeting on Wednesday at the Finnish parliament with lawmaker Tom Packalen who later tested positive for coronavirus.

She was swept from the summit and quickly swabbed herself - testing negative but going into self-isolation.

Speaking after her exit, Ms Marin said: “I left the European Council meeting as a precautionary measure and asked the Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven to represent the Finnish end of the meeting time.”

It is the second time in two weeks she has been forced into self-isolation.

Ms Marin's exit comes as Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU Commission, suddenly pulled out of the summit to go into self-isolation.

Ms von der Leyen had to pull out from the two-day meeting after one her staff members was found to be infected with Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki never made it to the EU Summit as he also had to self-isolate.

Two other EU top officials, the bloc's top diplomat Josep Borrell and the commissioner for humanitarian aid Janez Lenarcic, went into isolation this week.

They were quarantined after coming into contact with people who tested positive for the virus during a trip to Ethiopia.

Coronavirus is looming over Europe as many nations are suffering a surge in cases and deaths as they announced strict new measures.

Social life has shut down across the continent, with France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and many other nations limiting interactions.

New restrictions also come in Britain with new coronavirus rules, with a three-tiered system being introduced as winter begins.

In the past 24 hours, the second wave of the virus has seen cases continue to worryingly spike across Europe.

Britain saw another 18,980 people diagnosed with Covid-19 yesterday and 138 died in one of the deadliest days since June.

France had the highest spike with 30,621 new cases, taking the country's total past 800,000 to 818,707.

More than half of France's Covid-19 cases have come in the last month, with recent increased testing contributing to the rise.

'DISASTER'

Germany had 7,620 new cases in the past day, taking their total to 352,107.

Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Germany was heading for "disaster" after regional leaders chose not to approve proposed strict new measures.

In addition to France and Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Ukraine also recorded their highest ever daily case numbers yesterday.

Italy had another 83 deaths yesterday, almost doubling the number it had the day before on Wednesday.

The EU Summit being stalled due a coronavirus outbreak could slow down critical Brexit talks as the UK and Brussels continue to try and thrash out a deal.

The two biggest stumbling blocks are fishing rights in British waters and rules over state aid.

Boris Johnson vowed to walk away from Brexit talks if significant progress hadn't been made.

EU officials have insisted however that talks must continue to hash out the differences between bloc leaders and the UK.

They also warned they were "stepping up preparedness for no deal".

Meanwhile, leaked documents revealed over the summer the UK is getting ready for a perfect storm of a second wave and No-Deal Brexit.

Scientists have issued a warning as the cold weather approaches, with the spread of the flu and people spending more time indoors may allow coronavirus to spread quickly once again.

Europe's surging figures saw EU cases overtaking the US for the first time since April at the start of October.

Britain has seen a stark North-South develop with the coroanvirus outbreak, with regional leaders pushing back against new restrictions.

London tonight will be upgraded to "Tier 2", meaning that households will now no longer be able to mix.

The World Health Organisation warned Europe is facing a "very serious situation" as new cases have doubled in more than half the countries in the EU.

However, health chiefs admitted the increase in cases is partly down to more comprehensive testing - but said it was still a ";wake-up call".

Across the world, new daily global cases have also hit a record high, with 378,044 recorded on Saturday.

The increase is a five per cent rise from the previous record set the day before, according to the World Health Organisation.