Scaramella 'well' after poisoning fears

An Italian academic feared to have been another victim of the Russian hit squad which killed ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko remains under close observation in hospital today.

Mario Scaramella will undergo more tests after testing positive for the deadly polonium 210, which was used to poison the former spy.

Mr Scaramella’s lawyer Sergio Rastrelli told Channel 4 News yesterday: “I’ve spoken to Mario, he’s clearly worried.

“The doctors said he has definitely been contaminated with polonium but its not radioactive.

“So he has ingested or inhaled it, but in minimal, extremely minimal dose, far less than that with which Litvinenko was poisoned.”

Doctors said yesterday that Mr Scaramella, a former consultant on a commission investigating KGB activity in Italy, remained “well”.

They said “no evidence of “radiation toxicity” was found following preliminary tests.

The extent of the alert sparked by the death of outspoken Kremlin critic Mr Litvinenko last week was brought home yesterday by confirmation that among those places checked for radiation was Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in north London.

Mr Litvinenko is said to have met the former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square on November 1, the day he is thought to have been poisoned.

It is thought that polonium checks at the Emirates stadium were carried out because of Mr Lugovoi, who said he had attended a Champions League match there directly after meeting Mr Litvinenko.

The HPA confirmed yesterday there was “no risk to public health” at the ground.

The British Nuclear Group said yesterday that radiation experts from the Sellafield plant in Cumbria would be deployed over the coming days to assist the Health Protection Agency.

Fears have also mounted abroad. In addition to concerns in Mr Scaramella’s native Italy, polonium tests were being carried out on four people in Greece and a Finnair plane was given a radiation check at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.

In the days before finally succumbing to the devastating effects of the poisoning, Mr Litvinenko was convinced that he had been murdered for criticising Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Police investigations have focused on places he visited and contacts he met on November 1.

He met Mr Scaramella at the Itsu sushi bar in central London that day.

Following the death of Mr Litvinenko, Mr Scaramella returned to the UK and had been staying in the Ashdown Park Hotel in East Sussex under police protection until being admitted to London’s University College Hospital.

The HPA said yesterday that nothing of public health concern had been found at the hotel.

Just under 3,000 people have called the NHS Direct line following the public health alert. A total of 170 have been followed up for further investigation, with 24 referred to a specialist outpatient clinic for radiological exposure assessment.

Urine samples on 67 of the people thought most likely to be at risk of polonium contamination have all come back negative.

The only positive sample so far is that of Mr Litvinenko’s wife Marina, who is not expected to fall ill.

Traces of the substance have been found in 12 separate places across London. Three BA planes feared contaminated with radiation have been cleared to return to service.