Foot-and-mouth control zone lifted

A 3km (1.8-mile) temporary control zone had been imposed around Woodhouse Farm, near Solihull, while tests for the disease were carried out on animals from the site.

But on Thursday night Defra confirmed that laboratory results showed no sign of foot-and-mouth, and the control zone was lifted.

There have so far been five confirmed cases of the disease in Surrey since the initial outbreak at the start of August. A number of sites outside Surrey have also been investigated and several control zones set up, but these have all proved to be false alarms.

The control zone around Woodhouse Farm was set up as a precautionary measure on Wednesday, hours after chief vet Debby Reynolds urged farmers to undertake twice-daily inspections of their cattle in a bid to eradicate foot-and-mouth. But a Defra spokeswoman said results had shown no evidence of the disease.

The news came as laboratory results on the latest incidence of foot-and-mouth in Surrey revealed the strain of the disease was the same as all the other cases in the outbreak. Animals on the fifth premises - Klondyke Farm - had the same strain as the previous four infected farms.

The Environment Department also lifted some of the movement restrictions outside the surveillance zone which surrounds the most recent cases near Egham, Surrey.

Licences are now available to allow pigs to be moved for welfare reasons, and the movement of animals up to 3km (1.8 miles) or cows for calving up to 50km (31 miles) between premises belonging to the same owner.

Three new cases near Egham have emerged in the last two weeks - just days after officials declared the UK free of the disease following the August outbreak which has been blamed on the virus escaping from leaking pipes at the nearby Pirbright laboratory site.

Some 1,700 animals have been slaughtered since the outbreak, at what is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year for livestock sales.