Britain advises diners to wash belongings after nerve agent attack

British authorities on Sunday advised people who had visited a pub and a restaurant in Salisbury city to wash their belongings as a probe into an alleged nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter continued.

The advice applied to those who had been at The Mill pub on the afternoon of March 4 or the nearby Zizzi restaurant on March 4-5, Efe reports.

"While there is no immediate health risk to anyone who may have been in either of these locations, it is possible, but unlikely, that any of the substance which has come into contact with clothing or belongings could still be present in minute amounts and therefore contaminate your skin," a Public Health England statement said.

People who had been to either of the places were asked to wash any clothing that was worn on the dates concerned in a normal washing machine, as usual.

Anything that could not be washed or required dry-cleaning would need to be stored away in two plastic bags tied at the top, according to the advice, while authorities considered the "best way" to clean those items.

Other items, such as phones, needed to be cleaned with baby wipes, while the agency recommended that jewellry and glasses be washed by hand with regular detergent.

The warning was issued as a precaution after ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious a week ago after having been to both establishments.

The pair remained critically ill in hospital.