Spy poisoning: 160 tested for radiation
Doctors and nurses at the hospitals that treated former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko are being assessed for radiation contamination.
About 160 staff at Barnet General Hospital and London's University College Hospital could be at risk.
Eight members of the public have also been referred to a specialist radiological assessment clinic after saying they had been in areas where radiation was discovered.
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The Health Protection Agency said results could take up to a week to come back. Experts were keen to point out that even if radiation was detected, it would be an extremely small dose - similar to that experienced on short-haul flights. Both hospitals have been checked for possible contamination and have been cleared. There is no risk to patients or visitors to either hospital.
The news comes as friends of Mr Litvinenko revealed that he feared he had been fatally poisoned by his lunch companion Mario Scaramella.
The ex-KGB officer suspected the Italian academic was working for Russia's security service when they met at a London sushi restaurant. Yuri Felshtinsky told the Standard that days before he died, Mr Litvinenko was convinced Professor Scaramella was involved in a plot to assassinate him.
Mr Felshtinsky said he spoke to the 43-year-old former spy a week after his meeting with Professor Scaramella.
The 50-year-old said: "When I spoke to Alex, he was in terrible shape. He couldn't eat and had lost 15 kilos in weight in a week. At that particular time he thought Mario was behind his illness. He said that he was suspicious of him because he had come to London unexpectedly."
Mr Felshtinsky, a Russian historian who with Litvinenko wrote the book Blowing Up Russia, said his friend thought Scaramella was working for the Federal Security Bureau (FSB), the successor to the KGB. The pair met for lunch on November 1 at the Itsu sushi bar in Piccadilly Circus. "Alex told me Mario seemed quite uneasy, nervous and he ate nothing," said Mr Felshtinsky. "He suspected he was working for the FSB and after he fell ill, he thought he had done it."
Alex Goldfarb, a close friend of Mr Litvinenko, confirmed the former spy suspected Scaramella, who is now being interviewed by police. "Obviously he was suspicious of Scaramella," he said.
