UK official reassures residents in poisoning case

SALISBURY - The Associated Press

Britain’s home secretary is visiting Amesbury and Salisbury in southwestern England to reassure residents that the risk to the public remains very low despite the recent poisoning of two people exposed to a deadly nerve agent.

Sajid Javid said on July 8 that both towns remain open for business and urged people to visit.

More than 100 police officers are working to try and locate a small vial believed to have contained the nerve agent Novichok, which was manufactured in the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

The never agent was used in the March attack on an ex-Russian spy and his daughter, and two Britons have been critically ill since they were exposed to it eight days ago.

Several sites remained cordoned off as a laborious search continues.