Japan uses mats to block foot-and-mouth

Japan is forcing airline passengers arriving directly from Europe to walk over germ-killing mats in a bid to fight foot-and-mouth.

Any travellers who have visited farms in Europe and all passengers from London have been ordered to sterilise their shoes after they arrive in the country.

Tokyo's Narita International Airport, Kansai International Airport in Osaka and Nagoya Airport in central Japan are all taking part in the scheme.

The precautions come a day after Japan said it had suspended imports of pork and other livestock products from France, where officials confirmed an outbreak on Tuesday.

The disease is believed to have arrived on the European continent from Britain, where it first appeared.

Japan's Agriculture Ministry has stopped issuing import certificates for pigs, cows and other livestock from France on March 4, when a French domestic animal was found with symptoms of the disease.

Japan has banned livestock imports from Britain, Northern Ireland, Argentina, South Korea and China, countries where the foot-and-mouth disease has been found.

The first case in Japan was reported last March on three farms in the southern Miyazaki state.

In May 2000, some 705 cows suspected of being infected with disease were slaughtered at a farm on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido.

No other cases have been reported since in Japan.