The number of confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK has risen to 1,200, after 37 new cases were confirmed yesterday.
Dr Agnes Winter, of Liverpool University veterinary school, said the number of cases occurring daily "appears to have plateaued but it is too early to be optimistic". She said the worst forecasts of epidemiologists estimated around 70 new cases would be confirmed a day, unless the government's controls took effect. It now appears "an impact is being made".
However, cases had appeared in previously unaffected areas. Dr Winter said the British Ministry of Agriculture was hinting some of those outbreaks had been caused by farmers not being sufficiently diligent with disinfection procedures. "There is still a lot of work to do."
In the Netherlands, two new cases of foot-and-mouth disease were confirmed yesterday, bringing to 20 the number of infected farms, the agriculture ministry said. They were discovered in Heerde and Wapenveld.
French farmers calling for borders to be reopened to the livestock trade blocked access to Toulouse airport yesterday. France has two confirmed cases.