18 Sept 2024
New restrictions covering East Yorkshire and much of Lincolnshire are now in place as the number of affected premises continues to rise.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Image: APHA.
Bluetongue restrictions in eastern and southern England have been extended again after the number of premises affected by the present outbreak rose to 69.
A second restricted zone, covering East Yorkshire and a large area of Lincolnshire, has been set up amid signs the disease is now being spread locally in that region.
Meanwhile, similar limitations originally imposed in East Anglia last month have now been expanded to cover the whole of Kent and East Sussex.
Six new cases were confirmed in the latest update from Defra and the APHA issued yesterday (17 September).
Five of them, at sites in East Sussex, Kent, Norfolk and Suffolk, were detected after suspicions of possible disease were raised in relation to both cattle and sheep.
The sixth case, detected at a site in Lincolnshire, is said to have been identified through surveillance testing.
The agencies’ update said: “Following confirmation of BTV-3 on a number of premises in the East Riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, there is now evidence that there is some local transmission of bluetongue virus.
“The existing temporary control zone (TCZ) has been revoked and replaced by a larger restricted zone area covering East Riding of Yorkshire and part of Lincolnshire.”
The new restrictions cover the whole East Riding district, plus the city of Hull, plus a substantial proportion of both Lincolnshire as well as the North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire council areas.
Further south, the original restricted zone declared on 31 August now covers all of the five counties thought to be at the highest risk from bluetongue – Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent and East Sussex – plus part of Greater London.
