Theresa May has insisted Salisbury is open for business despite a new Novichok poisoning in her first comments since the incident emerged yesterday.
The Prime Minister said her thoughts were with the people of the Wiltshire city once again four months after the brazen and reckless poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.
She added: The message from Salisbury is clear it is very much open for business. The government will continue to provide every support to the local community.
It comes hours after security minister Ben Wallace admitted there was low risk but not zero risk to the public, adding people should take some precautions.
Two new victims, named by friends as Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell critically ill after being exposed to the same Russian nerve agent that poisoned the Skripals in Amesbury less than 10 miles from Salisbury.
The UK government is assuming the latest poisoning was not a direct attack by Russia.
Salisbury MP John Glen said it was most likely due to discarded paraphernalia from the March attack.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid hosted a meeting of the government’s COBRA emergency committee over the latest poisoning this morning.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Environment Secretary Michael Gove all attended.
England’s participation in the World Cup, which is being held in cities across Russia, became a prominent issue after the Salisbury incident in March.
While a complete boycott of the World Cup was ruled out, no senior Government officials or royals were expected to attend the competition.
Russia denies any involvement in the incident, claiming the British Government has used it for political gain.
On Friday Kremlin foreign minister Sergey Lavrov claimed the UK has destroyed evidence from the Salisbury probe.
He also said the Government had grossly manipulated the chemical weapons watchdog when it orchestrated a change in the rules to allow it to identify who is responsible for attacks.
But a UK Government spokesman said: These allegations are further examples of distraction from the Russian government, designed to confuse and detract from the issues at hand.
This is a tactic we have seen Russia deploy consistently, from the downing of MH17, through the annexation of Crimea, to the use of chemical weapons in Salisbury and Syria.