BRITAIN:Fears that the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Britain might not have been contained were heightened last night when two new suspected cases were announced.
One of the new suspected cases has turned up on a farm in the southern county of Kent, 60km from the original outbreak near Pirbright, in Surrey.
The second suspected case is on a farm in Surrey which is reported to be 14km away from the original disease outbreak and well outside the 10km surveillance area.
Preliminary results from the Kent farm are due early this morning, but the results from the Surrey farm will take another day.
The agriculture ministry in London said that temporary control zones had been set up around both farms involved as "precautionary measures following inconclusive assessments of clinical symptoms" detected in farm animals.
While little information was available on the suspected outbreak in Kent, it was learned that the Surrey farmer involved had found ulcers on the tongues of some of his calves and immediately called in the authorities.
Ulceration of the tongue and mouth is one of the symptoms which animals present when they catch foot-and-mouth disease.
A spokesman at the Department of Agriculture and Food in the Republic said last night that it was monitoring the new suspected cases and was in close communication with the authorities in Britain and in Northern Ireland.
The British authorities have maintained their ban on the movement of farm animals in England, apart from animals going straight for slaughter, for milking or for emergency treatment.
The chief veterinary officer there, Debby Reynolds, said on Monday that she had hoped to see an easing of the movement restrictions by the end of this week.
However, the emergence of two new suspected cases may prevent this happening, as the British government has prioritised the containment and eradication of the disease.
More than 570 animals have been destroyed in an attempt to prevent the spread of the disease.