The movement of all livestock in Britain was halted yesterday amid signs that the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was spreading across the United Kingdom.
The British Agriculture Secretary, Mr Nick Brown, announced a seven-day ban on the movement of livestock in an effort to prevent the spread of the disease.
Health officials said they believed they had discovered the source of the outbreak on a pig farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall, in Northumberland. The sixth case of the disease was also confirmed among cattle on a farm in Ponteland, Tyne and Wear, four miles from the Northumberland farm. Both are subject to a 10-mile exclusion zone.
As a result, Monday's race meeting in Newcastle, which is seven miles from the farms, has been cancelled.
Announcing the latest move to contain the disease, Mr Brown said: "There is going to be a complete standstill for the next seven days in the movement of livestock in Great Britain. "
Mr Brown said he hoped farmers would uphold the ban voluntarily, but police could be called in, if necessary.
Any lorries or transport already on the road delivering livestock were allowed to continue, but no new journeys were allowed after 5 p.m. The British public was advised to stay out of the countryside this weekend.
The Ministry of Agriculture said pigs on the Northumberland farm had been suffering from the disease for at least two weeks and could have been infected a month ago. The virus, identified as a pan-Asiatic strain, has been in Britain much longer than first thought. The Northumberland farm supplied pigs to an Essex abattoir, where the outbreak - the first in Britain for 20 years - was first identified on Monday, and to a farm in Aberdeenshire.
Both holdings are now subject to exclusion zones. Mr Bobby Waugh (55), owner of the farm at Heddon-on-the Wall, said last night his farm had been given a clean bill of health by officials just a month ago.
He said he had no idea how the suspected outbreak occurred.