Public health warning triggers concerns over speed of official responses to Russian spy attack in Salisbury
A public health warning urging hundreds of people who visited a pub and restaurant where the Russian spy Sergei Skripal may have been poisoned to wash their clothes and possessions has triggered concerns about the speed of official responses to the Salisbury incident.
The advice from Public Health England (PHE) released on Sunday morning was aimed at as many as 500 customers who ate at the Zizzi restaurant or were in the Mill pub in the centre of Salisbury last Sunday and Monday.
The precautionary guidance reinforces suspicions that the nerve agent used on Skripal and his daughter a week ago was first administered inside the restaurant. Traces of contamination have reportedly been found on and around the table where the two Russians sat. Some of the furniture and other items are said to have been destroyed to prevent further poisonings.
Scotland Yard, which is running the investigation, would neither confirm or deny claims of contamination at the restaurant. Police activity was also visible at the nearby Mill pub, where traces of the substance have also been found.
The public health notice said that although the risk was very low, repeated contact with clothing or items exposed to the nerve agent could still be a danger.
Jenny Harries, PHE’s regional director for the south of England, told a press conference on Sunday: “We have learned that there has been a limited contamination in both the Mill pub and in Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury.”
Asked about the delay in issuing the notice, Harries insisted it had been done in a timely fashion once the contamination was known about.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
