China has banned imports of British livestock and their products to guard against an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, the government’s food safety bureau announced today.

THE source of the foot and mouth outbreak in England looks likely to have been the Pirbright laboratory facility adjacent to the first farm affected.

There is a “strong possibility” that the Pirbright laboratory facility is the source of the foot-and-mouth outbreak, it was announced tonight.

Tests have confirmed that there has been a second outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK, British Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said today.

Experts were tonight probing whether the recent floods in England may be behind the foot and mouth outbreak, as the battle to contain the disease continued.

The animal vaccine company based a few miles from the foot and mouth disease outbreak in the UK insisted today there was still no evidence to link it with the case.

An abattoir in the North at the centre of a foot-and-mouth alert was cleared today.

Pig samples from an abattoir in the North are being tested for foot-and-mouth disease, the chief veterinary officer said tonight.