‘Should we be worried?’ Public frustration over advice in wake of second poisoning

Patrick Sawer, Victoria Ward

Martin Evans

OFFICIALS were last night facing questions about the adequacy of their advice in the wake of the second Novichok poisoning.

Public Health England has said that anyone who may have visited five locations possibly contaminated by the nerve agent, which has left a couple critically ill in Salisbury, should wash their clothes and wipe personal items with a cleansing wipe.

Mike Wade, the deputy director of health protection for PHE South West, said: “Our current advice, based on the small number of casualties affected, is that the risk to the public is low.” There is also some confusion over the time frame in PHE’S advice to people who may have visited Salisbury’s Queen Elizabeth Gardens and other locations where Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley visited over the weekend.

PHE stated that anyone who visited the five sites between 10pm on Friday and 6.30pm on Saturday should undertake washing of clothes and objects.

However, it is thought that Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley were in the park from early afternoon on the Friday, along with dozens of others, including children, enjoying the summer sun.

Debbie Stark, of PHE, said that using the time Ms Sturgess had fallen ill, they had counted backwards to determine that she was likely to have been poisoned at around 10pm that evening. She suggested that anyone in the park earlier in the day would not be at risk. However, she added: “The public should always be careful picking up dangerous or unknown objects.”

Jean-luc Thiebaut, 38, a software developer, told The Daily Telegraph: “I walked my dog in Queen Elizabeth gardens on Friday afternoon and again on Saturday morning, before it was sealed off. Should I be worried? Will I have picked something up on my shoes that I’ve brought back into the house?”

PHE said they could only follow the evidence and current information available, suggesting it was impossible for them to state for certain that no one else would fall ill.