LONDON police lifted a cordon placed on a restaurant visited by a Russian ex-spy who was poisoned by a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury, saying there was no public risk.

Police had cordoned off the restaurant after a man in his 30s collapsed outside the eatery on Thursday UK time.

He was taken to a hospital, police said, confirming that there was no risk to his health or the wider public.

“Given the ongoing incident in Salisbury and Amesbury, we are taking highly precautionary measures to ensure public safety,” police said, referring to the poisoning of two more people in Amesbury last month.

Photographs posted online by British media showed some emergency personnel wearing white biohazard suits inside the cordon at the Zizzi chain restaurant.

The restaurant had been cordoned off during the investigation of the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in March, who had visited Zizzi shortly before their collapse, but it was later allowed to reopen.

Charlie Rowley, 45, and his partner, Dawn Sturgess, 44, were rushed to hospital after collapsing in Amesbury on June 29.

Sturgess died in hospital on Sunday.

Experts believe the couple were poisoned by the same Novichok-type nerve agent used to attack the Skripals, who have both left hospital.

Britain blamed the Russian state for the attack on the Skripals, but Moscow has denied involvement.