Britain's farming industry was today warned to brace itself for a "very large epidemic" as the foot-and-mouth crisis increased its hold on the country.
An official government report estimated that the disease would grow fast in the next few weeks and "continue for many months".
It said the number of cases will "rise steeply" with "rapid expansion in the existing (infected) areas in spite of current controls".
The report, compiled for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) by disease specialists, also estimated that cases could rise to the level of 70 a day over the next two weeks with more than 4,000 cases being recorded by June.
The authors said there was still a need for "further drastic action" to bring the epidemic under control.
Otherwise, they warned, foot-and-mouth disease "will become established in Britain".
The report said the speedier slaughter of infected animals would help to reduce the spread of the virus but that culling also needed to include the "immediate slaughter of all susceptible species around infected farms otherwise the final number of infected cases will be very high".
Experts from the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, who helped compile the report, also said the UK's last major epidemic, in 1967 was "quite different".
This time, they warned, more of the country was infected with the spread of the disease by sheep a cause of major concern.
PA