§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what definition of epidemic(a) is used by her Department and (b) was used by its predecessor. [33714]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 5 February 2002]: The Chief Veterinary Officer would usually consider that a pattern whereby over a period of time, the number of new cases confirmed each day substantially exceeded the previous day's total, would provide reasonable grounds to consider an outbreak to be an epidemic.