Brussels,  A summit of European Union (EU) heads of state and government planned for later this week has been moved exclusively online as much of the continent faces a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead of meeting in person Brussels, as originally planned, the leaders will meet via video conference, a spokesman for EU Council President Charles Michel said on Twitter on Sunday.

It will mark the first regular EU summit since mid-2020, reports dpa news agency.

Leaders usually meet every three months, though there has been a series of additional video conferences in between meetings in recent months to deal with the pandemic.

The pandemic will be high on the agenda at the summit planned for Thursday and Friday, as leaders try to hash out ways to reach a shared goal of speeding up vaccination campaigns.

Future ties with Russia and Turkey will also be discussed.