The British government is poised to sanction the slaughter of tens of thousands more animals as a "pre-emptive strike" against the escalation of the foot-and-mouth crisis.
At the same time, ministers battling to save Britain's tourist industry - currently losing an estimated £250 million per week - have insisted that "rural Britain is not closed".
As the UK's total number of confirmed cases turned 230, the Agriculture Minister, Mr Nick Brown, was preparing to disclose details of the planned cull of as many as 100,000 seemingly healthy sheep to MPs in a Commons statement today.
He signalled the move yesterday as Agriculture Ministry officials continued a major effort to trace sheep involved in movements across the country organised by two dealers at the centre of the outbreak. It is believed the animals were transported after the outbreak started but before it was detected and the ban on movements subsequently imposed.
One of the dealers unwittingly involved in the spread of the disease, Devon farmer Mr William Cleave, told the BBC he believed the authorities would ultimately have to trace his records back to the beginning of January and then destroy all animals with which he had been in contact.
Farmers' leaders welcomed any strike against sheep which might be incubating the disease.
At the same time, the president of the National Farmers' Union, Mr Ben Gill, joined the Bishop of Hereford and assorted politicians and rural council leaders in urging the government to postpone the local elections scheduled for May 3rd and abandon plans to hold the general election on the same date.
Downing Street continued to insist there was no reason to postpone the local election date.
Dr David Butler, of Nuffield College, Oxford, argued there were genuine political reasons for delay, although he thought ministers could postpone a decision for another 10 days to see if the disease had peaked.
While again refusing to comment on the Prime Minister's election plans, Mr Brown said: "I say, everyone stay away from livestock holdings because of the risk of spreading this virulent disease, and that applies to politicians as well as everyone else."
However, he said there was "an emerging possibility" of relaxing movement controls in parts of the countryside which remained unaffected by the disease, while the Tourism Minister, Ms Janet Anderson, declared Britain "open for business" during a visit to Devon.