Britain to relax foot-and-mouth restrictions next week

LONDON: Britain will relax movement restrictions imposed on livestock southwest of London in the wake of a foot-and-mouth outbreak over the summer, a government agency said Friday.

The surveillance zone, put up around a laboratory complex in Surrey, will be lifted Monday unless a new suspected case of the virus is found, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, or DEFRA.

The restricted area had a 10-kilometer (6-mile) radius, covering about 315 square kilometers (120 square miles).

The movement of livestock out of the area had been prohibited, a measure intended to thwart the spread of the highly contagious disease. The virus' emergence was blamed on a leak from the Pirbright laboratory, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) southwest of London.

Some restrictions on movement, however, will remain in place, DEFRA said.