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The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has approved the application for the establishment of a containment zone, jointly prepared by the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, the federal government, and the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI).
With the official confirmation of the suspected outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in a water buffalo population in Hönow in the district of Märkisch-Oderland on January 9, 2025, the WOAH suspended the FMD-free status for Germany.
To regain this status, a surveillance program must be carried out for at least three months after the outbreak to demonstrate the absence of FMD infections. Thanks to rapid and effective disease control, the outbreak in Brandenburg was contained and limited to a single case.
“This puts us in a position to follow a special procedure that, for the first time, will be implemented in the European Union. A so-called containment zone will be established within a radius of 6 kilometers around the outbreak,” explained Hanka Mittelstädt, Brandenburg's Minister for Agriculture, Food, Environment, and Consumer Protection.
All areas outside this zone, which includes the rest of Berlin and Brandenburg as well as the other 14 federal states of Germany, have regained early “FMD-free” status as of March 2. Therefore, international trade outside the containment zone is no longer subject to restrictions.
Within the containment zone, measures and surveillance of susceptible animals should be maintained until at least April 11, 2025. In this area, the measures currently in place in the surveillance zone will continue to be applied to a large extent.
March 12, 2025/ Brandenburg Minister of Agriculture and Food/ Gerama.
https://mleuv.brandenburg.de
