British health officials are on the alert after a new case of foot-and-mouth disease surfaced in southern England last week, the agriculture ministry said.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has set a 3 km temporary control zone around premises near Petersfield, where a new case of foot-and mouth disease is suspected to have appeared.

The isolated site is near Petersfield, in the county of Hampshire, about 70 kilometers from premises near Egham, west of London. Four farms have been affected over the past two weeks near Egham, Surrey.

“This is a precautionary measure following a veterinary assessment of clinical signs,” the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement Sunday.

Six cases of the disease have been confirmed so far, all of them in Surrey county. The first case was identified on August 3. The first three cases were all located near the Pirbright laboratories, believed to be the source of the outbreak.

Subsequent investigations revealed biosecurity breaches and a malfunction of the drainage system at the research site, issues that might have played a decisive role in the virus’ spreading.

Since the first outbreak in August, some 1,800 animals have been slaughtered.

According to BBC News, 40 cattle were slaughtered at Beaumont College farm in Old Windsor, on the Surrey-Berkshire border on Saturday after testing positive for the disease.

Over the past two weeks, several other sites outside Surrey have been investigated and control zones have been set up in order to prevent the spread of the virus. Thankfully, they proved to be false alarms and some of the movement restrictions outside the surveillance zone were be lifted.

Licenses are available to move pigs for welfare reasons up to 3 km and move cows for calving up to 50 km between premises belonging to the same owner.

Earlier this month, the National Farmers’ Union said the new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease could become a “disaster” for the farming sector, which is most likely to be “absolutely devastated.”

The European Commission has decided to suspend all British exports of fresh meat, dairy products and live animals to the rest of Europe at least until November 1.