Don't touch any objects in Salisbury if you 'don't know what they are', health chief warns after two more people are exposed to Novichok

Residents and tourists in Salisbury should avoid touching things if they don't know where they came from, said the director of Public Health England
PA
Eleanor Rose5 July 2018

Members of the public in Salisbury should avoid picking up objects if they "don't know what they are", warned the director of Public Health England.

Paul Cosford told Sky News the advice to residents and tourists to keep their hands to themselves was a "sensible" precaution against novichok poisoning.

"It's important for all of us to remember not to pick up items you don't know what they are," he said, adding it was "highly precautionary but sensible advice".

The stark words came after a couple found critically ill in a flat in Amesbury were confirmed by anti-terror police to have been poisoned by nerve agent Novichok.

Victims: Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess were found collapsed on Saturday
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Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44, were found collapsed in a flat in Wiltshire on Saturday after coming into contact with the substance linked to the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March.

Those who passed through any of the affected areas should also clean their clothes and any possessions they had with them at the time, Public Health England has cautioned.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said there was "nothing in [the couple's] background" to suggest Mr Rowley and Ms Sturgess were specifically targeted.

Security minister Bem Wallace told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The working assumption would be that these are victims of either the consequence of the previous attack, or something else, but not that they were directly targeted."

Mr Wallace added that there was a low risk to the public, saying: "In the whole... area of national security we can't give 100 percent guarantees, and we try to minimalise the risk, and I know the people of Salisbury will be anxious.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned with the nerve agent in March
PA

"We are giving a low risk, but take some precautions."

Home Secretary Sajid Javid is expected to brief MPs about the poisoning in an oral statement to the House of Commons after an emergency meeting of Cobra.

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