Fife (Scotland) bird flu restrictions to be lifted at midnight
Restrictions on poultry movements around the Fife harbour where a swan was found to have died from the most virulent form of avian flu are to be relaxed from midnight tonight.
The three-kilometre (1.8-mile) restriction zone was imposed after the swan in the coastal village of Cellardyke, near Anstruther in Fife, was the first bird in the UK found with the H5N1 strain of the virus.
Scheduled restrictions end after 21 days, unless there are further signs of the disease. No further cases have been detected.
The Scottish Executive, which co-ordinated the disease control measures, said that if no more cases were found in the next week, the wider surveillance zone, with restrictions on movement of farmed poultry and of other captive birds, would end on May 1.
That would end the special surveillance measures and vet checks imposed on farms in a 10 kilometer (6.2 mile) radius of Cellardyke. It would also end further requirements for poultry to be kept indoors in a 2500sq kilometer (1553.5 mile) area stretching down the east coast from Stonehaven to the Forth bridge and inland to the A90 and M90 roads.