County no longer a restricted area for bluetongue disease

With regard to infections with the bluetongue virus, the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg is once again considered disease-free. This means that the restricted area, which included the municipalities of Allendorf, Battenberg, Bromskirchen, Burgwald, Frankenberg, Gemünden, Haina, Hatzfeld and Rosenthal, has been lifted with immediate effect. This means that cattle, sheep and goats from the entire district can once again be moved throughout Germany or the EU, even without existing vaccination protection against the virus.

However, due to the spread of the animal disease in Switzerland, France, Belgium and Luxembourg, there is still a constant risk of the virus entering the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg. Likewise, the district can be affected at any time by restriction zones that are set up due to outbreaks in other federal states or also in Hesse. In these restriction zones, immediately from the time of the order, cattle, sheep and goats would no longer be allowed to move to BTV-free areas, with the exception of the movement of calves to certain EU states (including the Netherlands). Every cattle, sheep or goat farm in the district can be affected by the problem described at any time. Vaccination of at least the dams is therefore still recommended.