Defra has announced that the Bluetongue Protection Zone will be extended again on Thursday 7 August.  This follows the delivery by Merial of over two million additional doses of Bluetongue serotype 8 (BTV- 8) vaccine.

The Protection Zone will be extended to cover those parts of Shropshire (District of Oswestry), Cheshire (Districts of Vale Royal, Chester, Ellesmere Port and Neston), Greater Manchester (Metropolitan Boroughs of Wigan, Bolton, Bury, Trafford and Salford) and North Yorkshire (Districts of Richmondshire and Craven) previously in the Free Area, and all of Merseyside (including the Metropolitan Boroughs of Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral), the Unitary Authorities of Halton and Warrington, and Lancashire (including the Unitary Authorities of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen)

Vaccination is only permitted within the Protection Zone.  The Protection Zone will continue to be expanded and vaccination rolled out to the free area as vaccine is delivered, in line with the vaccination roll-out plan.