UK Police Confirm New Salisbury Poisoning Was Caused By Nerve Agent

It is the same substance used against a Russian spy and his daughter in March.

The substance that has left two people critically ill in Wiltshire is the nerve agent Novichok, the British counter-terrorism police chief says.

It is the same substance used against the Skripals and the two people in Wiltshire remain in critical condition. No one else has reported to the hospital with the same symptoms.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said there was no evidence that the two people had visited the same sites that were decontaminated after the Skripal case.

British counter-terrorism officers have joined the police investigation.

Britain's Sun newspaper reported that the man and woman had been poisoned and were showing similar symptoms to those displayed by ex-double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who were victims of a nerve agent attack in March.

The Metropolitan Police, which leads the national counter-terrorism network, is assisting in the latest case "given the recent events in Salisbury", but declined to comment on whether they became ill due to accidental exposure to the Novichok agent.

Samples of the substance involved have been sent to the nearby military research centre of Porton Down for testing, a source close to the investigation said.

The British pair, named as 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess and 45-year-old Charlie Rowley, were hospitalised after being found unwell on Saturday in Amesbury, 11km north of Salisbury, where the Skripals were found slumped unconscious on a bench on March 4.

"They remain in a critical condition," Mills said, adding that at least five different areas had been cordoned off, including a park and a property in Salisbury, and a pharmacy and a Baptist church community centre in Amesbury.

Britain blamed the poisoning of the Skripals on Russia, prompting a serious diplomatic crisis between Moscow and Western states. Russia denied any involvement.

Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said the government's emergency response committee had met to discuss the incident and would meet again on Wednesday evening.

Mills said paramedics were called on Saturday morning to a house in Amesbury after the woman collapsed and returned later in the day when the man also fell ill.

The pair, who are being treated at Salisbury District Hospital, were initially believed to have taken heroin or crack cocaine from a contaminated batch but tests are ongoing to identify the substance involved.

"We are working with the police to understand the circumstances surrounding this incident and it would be inappropriate to make further comment at this time, while we establish how they became unwell," said Cara Charles-Barks, the hospital's chief executive.

It's the same hospital where the Skripals also spent weeks in a critical condition before slowly recovering and being discharged.