Staff test positive for polonium 210 at hotel

All seven staff who were working at a hotel bar on the day former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko visited it have been tested positive for low levels of the radioactive substance that killed him, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said today.

Prof Pat Troop, chief executive of the agency, said there were no short-term risks, but there was a "very small" increased long-term risk of cancer.

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Following the results, the HPA will offer urine tests to more than 200 other people who were in the bar on that day, November 1, which is when Mr Litvinenko was first taken ill.

Health officials are also advising member of the public who were in the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel on the day before and day after to contact NHS Direct, who will pass on their details for further assessment.

In a statement, the HPA said: "On the basis of the monitoring results received so far from several other sites, we still believe that the risk to the general public of having been exposed to polonium-210 is likely to be very low."

Dr Michael Clark, spokesman for the HPA's radiation protection division, said the levels of radiation found in the seven were less than that which had been identified in an adult member of Mr Litvinenko's family, but was "approaching it".