VETS from agriculture ministry DEFRA are set to embark on a major blood-testing programme on sheep in the Vale of York.
A cross-section of about 60,000 of the vale's 300,000 sheep will be tested, to check whether the disease is already lying dormant in the area.
The move is part of the clampdown on biosecurity introduced in the Thirsk area on Monday, and follows a mass cull of 4,000 sheep in the Brecon Beacons national park, in Wales.
But a DEFRA spokesman said the ministry was not comparing this area with the beacons.
"In that area, there was a lot of co-grazing, with sheep being able to wander freely along the hillsides. There is virtually no co-grazing in the Vale of York, so we do not anticipate having to embark on the same course of action.
"If we were to find a sample in sheep here, it would only be that particular flock which would need to be dealt with."
The spokesman confirmed that blood-testing on the North York Moors, at infection hot spots Westerdale and Lealholm, had not found any further traces of the disease.
The tally of cases remains at 124, the most recent being that at The Shades farm at Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe, near Thirsk.
Updated: 11:23 Friday, July 27, 2001
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