More hotel staff test positive for polonium
Three more people have tested positive for low levels of polonium-210, which was used to murder Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko.
It follows tests on two members of staff at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair and on one worker at the Sheraton Hotel in Park Lane, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has said.
Ten people in the UK have now been exposed to radiation in the wake of Mr Litvinenko’s poisoning.
His wife Marina and seven members of staff at the Millennium Hotel’s Pine Bar have already tested positive. One of the hotel workers was later shown to have normal levels of polonium.
Traces of radiation have been found in Moscow and in Hamburg - where former KGB agent Dmitry Kovtun visited before flying to London to meet Mr Litvinenko at the Mayfair hotel.
Mr Kovtun is now back in Russia and receiving treatment for suspected radiation poisoning in a Moscow clinic. He has been interviewed by Scotland Yard detectives who are investigating the 43-year-old’s murder.
In a deathbed statement, Mr Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind his poisoning - an allegation the Kremlin vehemently denies.
Mr Kovtun, and his business associate, Andrei Lugovoi, met with Mr Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel on November 1, the day he fell ill.
Mr Kovtun, Mr Lugovoi and a third associate who was with them on that day, Vyacheslav Sokolenko, have denied any involvement in Mr Litvinenko’s death.