Three British regions declared FMD free
Three areas of Britain have been declared free of foot-and-mouth disease, leaving just one region still ‘at risk’ from the virus.
North Yorkshire, Durham and Cumbria were declared free of the disease today, but Northumberland was left out because of positive blood tests on two sheep recently.
Officials have ordered the slaughter of 2,100 animals in the area as a precaution. In the 10 months since the foot-and-mouth crisis gripped Britain, 2,030 cases were confirmed.
However, many more animals were killed before being tested and the real number of infections is believed to be considerably higher than the official tally.
