Since the first case of the disease was found in the county twenty-three weeks ago, 92 Durham farms have tested positive for infection by the virus, and nearly 500 farms in the county have had their animals killed as potential contacts. Throughout the north, nearly 1500 farms have tested positive for the disease (over half of these in Cumbria) and over 5000 farms in the region have had their livestock killed.

On the brighter side, at the time of writing (1st August) County Durham has not suffered a new case of Foot-and-Mouth since mid May, and most of the county has been free of the virus since April. (The last cases to be recorded in Co Durham occurred during May in a cluster of farms confined to a small area near Darlington.)

The situation in the north of England as a whole remains serious, with between 5000 and 10,000 animals still being slaughtered each week in Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

In the UK as a whole, there have been 1921 premises to date confirmed as being infected with foot-and-mouth, but nearly 10,000 farms have had their livestock slaughtered. 3,661,000 animals have been killed so far.

Two thirds of premises confirmed as having been infected by the virus are in the north of England and southern Scotland, and of those, two thirds are in Cumbria - the most severely affected county in the country by far (822 cases at the beginning of August). Durham has had only 5% of the total cases which, correcting for the fact that County Durham is one third the area of Cumbria, is only one third of the infection rate/density suffered over the border.

With there having been no new cases in the County for over ten weeks, most rights of way will be officially open as from today. Details of exceptions can be found on Durham County Council's Foot-and-Mouth Open Countryside Web Page.

Kim Booth, 1st August, 2001