Foot and mouth crisis spreads

11.00 am - By NIGEL MORRIS, MICHAEL MCCARTHY and IMRE KARACS, Herald correspondents

Fears that foot-and-mouth disease has spread outside Britain increased today when German scientists discovered that some UK imports of sheep had been in contact with the virus.

As the number of confirmed cases rose to 18, the Irish government urged its citizens not to travel to the UK, raising the possibility of Britain being put in isolation by the rest of Europe.

In France, the authorities decided to destroy 20,000 sheep imported from Britain for a Muslim festival, and the country's chief veterinary officer warned that the disease could be spread across the English Channel by birds.

In Germany, Bärbel Höhn, the agriculture minister of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, said the region was "on the brink of a catastrophe" after it was revealed that three British sheep tested before being incinerated had antibodies in their blood against the virus which causes foot-and-mouth disease.

Following an emergency meeting of ministers in Downing Street, the Government announced further precautionary measures.

Ministers agreed to extend until at least 16 March the ban on livestock movements around Britain, which had been due to run out on Friday.

But strictly limited movements of cattle, sheep and pigs will be allowed directly from farms to slaughterhouses to ensure the food supply chain remains intact. After talks with the Treasury, the Minister of Agriculture, Nick Brown, announced compensation worth about £200 milllion ($NZ669 million) for Britain's beleaguered livestock industry.

The outbreak is threatening serious disruption to the sporting calendar. The Jockey Club suspended all horse racing meetings for a week starting today, and next month's three-day Cheltenham National Hunt Festival – now Britain's biggest racing jamboree, attracting 150,000 race fans – also looks doomed.

Sunday's scheduled Six Nations rugby international in Cardiff between Wales and Ireland became the first major casualty of the outbreak when the Irish Rugby Football Union recommended postponement.

Emergency measures to close thousands of miles of footpaths throughout Britain were rushed through the Commons in an effort to stop ramblers spreading the virus on their boots.

The National Trust later announced that all of its countryside properties in England and Wales will be closed unless totally separate from livestock.

Large tracts of Dartmoor, close to several farms where the disease has been detected, were shut to ramblers to help protect the 60,000 cattle and sheep in the national park.

The body representing Britain's anglers also called on its members to stay out of the countryside.

The new outbreaks of disease discovered yesterday included the first case in Wales, at an abattoir in Anglesey, which was believed to involve an animal from Yorkshire.

Farms at Withnell in Lancashire, Wolsingham in Co Durham and Wootton in Northamptonshire were also confirmed to be infected, with diseased animals being traced to markets in Hexham and Darlington in the North-east and a farm in Devon.

Another case was confirmed at an abattoir in Witton le Wear, Co Durham.

After hearing of the latest outbreaks, the cabinet committee meeting agreed to extend the animal movement ban for another two weeks.

But it coupled it with the announcement of a scheme, which will be launched on Friday, to move animals from disease-free farms to be slaughtered and sent to market.

Strict controls would apply on transportation to ensure that the animals were not infected in transit.

Later, Mr Brown announced that the Government would be drawing £167m from an EU agricultural fund. The Government would be paying 81 per cent of the cash, with 19 per cent coming from the EU to compensate beef, dairy and sheep farmers, he said.

The EU extended the ban on British farm exports until 9 March, but praised UK efforts to contain the disease and promised to review the provisions of its ban on 6 March.

Feature: Foot-and-Mouth Disease epidemic