Two dead swans have tested negative for the H5N1 strain of bird flu at a UK reserve where three birds were earlier found infected with the deadly virus.

Control zones set up to prevent the spread of bird flu from farms infected with the disease in East Anglia will begin to lift from Saturday, the British Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said today.

Poultry on four new farms in the UK are to be culled today as tests are carried out to establish if they have been infected with the deadly H5N1 bird flu found in a flock of turkeys in East Anglia.

Farming in the UK was tonight dealt a fresh blow after vets confirmed bird flu in a flock of free-range turkeys.

The farming industry was dealt another blow tonight as a new case of bird flu was discovered in turkeys.

The H5 strain of bird flu has been confirmed in turkeys on a farm in the UK, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said today.

Two new cases of bluetongue disease have been confirmed, British Environment Secretary Hilary Benn announced today.

A third animal has tested positive for bluetongue, a livestock virus which struck in Britain for the first time last week, British government vets said today.

A double threat emerged for Britain’s farmers tonight when bluetongue disease joined foot-and-mouth as a menace to their livestock.

Cattle are being slaughtered today at a Surrey farm where tests showed the animals had succumbed to the foot and mouth outbreak that currently blights the country.

Tests have confirmed another case of foot and mouth disease in Surrey, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.

A sixth suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease was being investigated in Surrey in the UK tonight, Defra said.

A temporary control zone was set up around a premises near Solihull, England, today as officials investigate another suspected case of foot-and-mouth.

Tests have confirmed a third case of foot-and-mouth disease in Surrey in England, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said today.

Initial blood tests on sheep suggest a new case of foot-and-mouth disease, Defra said tonight.

Pigs on a farm close to the two premises infected with foot-and-mouth in Surrey are to be culled, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said today.

Cattle culled on a second farm have tested positive for foot and mouth disease, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said today.

Fears of “enormous economic consequences” for the livestock industry have been raised as tests indicate the virus strain in the latest foot-and-mouth outbreak is the same as that which infected two herds last month.

The farmer at the centre of the latest foot and mouth scare said today he is sure his livestock do not have the disease.

Hopes that the foot and mouth outbreak had been contained were dealt a blow today after a new suspected case of the virulent virus was discovered.

A suspected case of Legionnaires’ disease with alleged links to the Institute for Animal Health at Pirbright in the UK is under investigation tonight.

A second outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease is suspected in the protection zone in Surrey, England, a spokeswoman for Defra confirmed tonight.

The slaughter of animals infected by a fresh outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has begun on a farm in Surrey, England.

The spectre of the foot-and-mouth epidemic that brought chaos to Britain six years ago returned tonight when a fresh outbreak was confirmed.

THE slaughter of thousands of turkeys is under way as officials battle to stamp out Britain’s outbreak of the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

The British government is preparing “very seriously” for the remote possibility of a human flu pandemic as officials battle to contain the first avian outbreak in the UK.

FEARS of a widespread outbreak of bird flu across Britain were receding last night as an infected swan found in Scotland remained the only confirmed case of the deadly H5N1 strain.

Taiwan plans to lodge a protest with Britain over allegations that it exported fowl infected with the bird flu virus, a Taiwanese health official said today, after the farm that raised the birds was found to be free of the disease.

Britain’s fishing industry could collapse due to the rising price of marine diesel, an industry leader warned today.

Bacteria which causes a serious potato disease has been found for the first time in the UK, it emerged today.

Farmers were today anxiously waiting to discover the outcome of tests on a suspected case of foot-and-mouth at a British farm.