UK confirms new case of Bluetongue disease

London - Britain announced on Friday a new case of the livestock disease Bluetongue in a cow imported from Germany, two months after an earlier outbreak was said to have been contained.

The latest case was confirmed near Middlesbrough in north-east England - outside a protection zone set up around an outbreak in eastern England in September.

"Bluetongue virus has been detected in an imported cow on a premises near Middlesbrough. The animal originated from within a protection zone in Lower Saxony, Germany," said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in a statement.

The farm involved "has been placed under restrictions, and the cow will be culled as it potentially provides a source of infection" for other animals, Defra said.

"A full epidemiological investigation is being undertaken on the premises," Defra added.