Foot-and-mouth outbreak s parallels with Covid pandemic
By Catherine Lee
image captionMillions of animals were slaughtered and incinerated during the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak
It was a rapidly-spreading virus, with stringent measures taken to contain its transmission. It delayed elections and had a huge economic impact. Sound familiar?
On 19 February 2001 a case of foot-and-mouth disease was discovered at an abattoir in Essex.
By the time the outbreak was declared over it had spread across the British countryside and more than six million sheep, cattle and pigs had been slaughtered.
There had been major disruption nationally and, although the disease did not leap to humans, the overall cost to the UK economy was estimated at £8bn.