A sixth suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease is being investigated in Surrey, Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has said.
Around 40 cattle feared to have the disease have been slaughtered on a farm within the current three-kilometre protection zone which was set up after the latest cases emerged near Egham.
Tests were carried out after the animals displayed clinical signs of the disease but a Defra spokeswoman said the results had not yet been confirmed.
There have so far been five confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth in Surrey since the initial outbreak at the start of August. A number of sites outside Surrey have also been investigated and several control zones set up, but these have all proved to be false alarms.
Last night a temporary control zone imposed around a farm near Solihull, West Midlands was lifted after tests on animals for foot-and-mouth disease proved negative.
Laboratory results have shown that the latest incidence of foot-and-mouth in Surrey revealed the strain of the disease was the same as all the other cases in the outbreak. Animals on the fifth premises - Klondyke Farm - had the same strain as the previous four infected farms.
Three new cases near Egham have emerged in the last two weeks - just days after officials declared the UK free of the disease following the August outbreak which has been blamed on the virus escaping from leaking pipes at the nearby Pirbright laboratory site.
Some 1,800 animals have been slaughtered since the outbreak, at what is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year for livestock sales.
The Environment Department has lifted some