Parliament head self-isolates as MEPs demand more virus R&D

European People’s Party calls for bolstered disease agency and return of medicines manufacturing to Europe

David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, has self-isolated in response to the global coronavirus outbreak, missing a plenary session in which MEPs called for more funding to be devoted to research into a vaccine against the virus.

“I have decided after having been in Italy over the last weekend, as a precaution, to follow the indicated measures and to exercise my function as president from my home in Brussels in compliance with the 14 days indicated by the health protocol,” Sassoli said in a statement on 10 March.