Does anyone on here have any idea how long the Novichok nerve agents remain toxic and whether washing contaminated items, or cleaning with disinfectant or baby wipes can actually decontaminate them?
You see, my suspicion is not, in view of the measures which have been taken with some of the items involved. The table the pair were sitting at, and some of the staff uniforms were so badly contaminated they were destroyed, even though they are evidence, presumably?
That means that for more than 24 hours (after which the authorities knew enough of the Skripal's movements to shut the pub and the restaurant) all items likely to have been contaminated either by the pair handling them, or by contact with the table - glasses, plates, cutlery, condiments, cash, card machines, clothing, etc., were still in circulation and being touched by, presumably, lots of other people. Cash, in particular, which will not be routinely washed, could have ended up who knows where? People who sat at the table subsequently must have been exposed to the agent.
How much contact would you have needed to be affected, and could you be affected without presenting symptoms? Am asking on here, because no-one in authority seems to have addressed this issue, other than to offer what to my mind is the rather inadequate advice to wash, wipe and bag things up, considering we're dealing with one of the most powerful nerve agents that's ever been produced.