Foot-and-mouth disease: small border crossings on the brink of closure

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Borders with Hungary and Slovakia were affected.

Following a new case of foot-and-mouth disease, Austria is closing small border crossings to Hungary and Slovakia.
Due to the rampant foot-and-mouth disease, small border crossings in Austria are to be closed. A spokesperson for the responsible State Secretary Ulrike Königsberger-Ludwig (SPÖ) in the Ministry of Health confirmed a report by the free newspaper “Heute” (online) to APA on Wednesday. A corresponding ordinance is currently being drafted for the Ministry of the Interior. This would authorize the Ministry of the Interior to close the affected crossings.
Outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Slovakia
The spokesperson was quoted by the news portal as saying the measure primarily affects crossings “wherever controls are not possible. “The major border crossings will remain open,” he told APA. The most recent outbreak occurred in neighboring Slovakia. There are currently no indications that the disease has spread to Austria.

Previously, there had been calls for nationwide controls and border checks. These, together with the “laying out of epidemic carpets at the borders, are overdue,” said Anja Haider-Wallner (Greens), Deputy Governor of Burgenland, in a press release. “Border controls must also finally be carried out without gaps,” she said. The Ministry of the Interior must “finally get into gear before something worse happens,” said Haider-Wallner.
The Austrian Armed Forces have also been deployed in Slovakia – specifically in Dunajská Streda – since 26 March. The forces of the “Austrian Forces Disaster Relief Unit” (AFDRU), a special unit for disaster relief operations at home and abroad, have treated more than 3,000 trucks with 120,000 liters of water and 1,200 liters of chemicals for decontamination in more than 140 working hours so far. The operation is expected to continue for another two weeks, according to the Ministry of Defense. As part of the “European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations”, 53 soldiers with 18 vehicles and equipment were deployed.