§ Lord Elderasked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress has been made towards eradicating foot and mouth disease. [HL2032]
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Hayman)Copies will be placed in the Libraries of the House today of the latest graphs produced for the Chief Scientific Adviser's group on the course of the disease. These demonstrate that in the seven-day period ending Wednesday 2 May there was an average of approximately eight new confirmed cases each day compared with 16 in the seven-day period ending 22 April and with a weekly average of 43 at the peak in late March. We can therefore be optimistic about the future course of the disease, although the Chief Scientific Adviser has warned that cases will continue to occur for some time yet.
137WAIt is clear that our policy to bear down on the outbreak swiftly and prevent spread of the disease through slaughtering of animals on infected premises within 24 hours of the case being reported, tracing dangerous contacts and tackling the disease on contiguous premises within 48 hours, has been effective. This has been crucial to the control of the epidemic.