Minister Nagy: Efforts to contain foot-and-mouth disease successful in Hungary, new decontamination points – video

Agriculture Minister István Nagy said at a press briefing in Mosonmagyarovar (NW Hungary) on Tuesday that measures to contain the spread of foot-and-mouth disease have been successful, and no new outbreaks have been reported.

Speaking after a meeting of the animal health operative corps, Nagy said the livestock at two of the four farms where FMD was detected had been destroyed. He added that culling will start at the other two farms on Tuesday and finish, hopefully, by the weekend.

He said 60,000 blood tests had been conducted at 749 farms, all of which were negative for FMD. He added that work is underway to determine how the virus entered Hungary.

Kristóf Gál, a spokesman for the National Police Headquarters (ORFK), said the closure of several crossings along the Austrian border meant long waits at the remaining crossings. He advised travellers to check the police.hu website for the latest information on border crossings with Austria and Slovakia.

Because of the foot-and-mouth disease affecting cloven-footed ungulates, vehicles over 7.5 tonnes are being disinfected, particularly in view of the restrictions and controls in place.