The nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury was delivered in a liquid form, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has said. A very small amount of the novichok nerve agent was used in the attack and the highest concentration was found at Skripal’s house, it emerged in a press briefing in the city. Work to decontaminate sites in Salisbury affected by the nerve agent is beginning, but will take months and involve almost 200 members of the armed forces. Nine sites had been identified as needing some sort of specialist cleaning, Defra said.

They include part of the Maltings shopping centre where the former Russian spy Skripal and his daughter collapsed, the Zizzi restaurant and Mill pub which they visited that day, and the family home on the outskirts of the city. The home of the police officer injured in the incident, DS Nick Bailey, also needs decontaminating.

Police previously said that they believed the pair had been poisoned at the front door of Skripal’s home. Specialists found the highest concentration of the nerve agent on the door, police said. Last week previously classified intelligence about the Salisbury attack claimed Russia had tested whether door handles could be used to deliver nerve agents. A small cordoned area of the cemetery where the remains of Skripal’s wife and son lie has been reopened after “extensive investigations and testing” established that it was not contaminated.(theguardian)…[+]