British authorities confirmed Friday the existence of foot-and-mouth disease at a second farm in Egham, Surrey.

Tests revealed that animals at Stroude Farm have been infected with the highly contagious disease, prompting the authorities to kill 800 pigs and 40 cattle as a precautionary measure.

The farm is close to the Milton Park Farm, where the outbreak was initially reported Wednesday. Both facilities have been included in a 15-kilometre surveillance zone, imposed just a few weeks after a foot-and-mouth outbreak ravaged the same county in southern Britain.

Meanwhile, the government is heavily criticized for lifting restriction to early, decision which allegedly led to this new outbreak. But the government rejected the allegations that the country’s chief veterinary officer was pressured to declare Britain “foot-and-mouth-free” last week.

“This was a decision that was made on the basis of scientific evidence. It was a decision made by the chief vet and supported by many academic experts,” Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s spokesman said.

The existence of this viral disease was confirmed at a site located 15 kilometres from the Pirbright laboratories, which are believed to be the source of last month’s outbreak.

The Department for Environment, Food and Agriculture (Defra) said Thursday that tests showed a potential match between this new strain of virus and the one appeared in August.

The European Commission again banned all exports of meat, dairy products and live animals from Britain and declared the country a “high-risk zone.”

Specialists said this outbreak brings new questions and shatters the strategy previously adopted by Defra. They are puzzled by the case and try to find out what went wrong and redress the situation quickly in order to avoid severe damage to the farming industry.

About 600 animals were killed after the first outbreak was reported on August 3. Authorities said the disease was completely rooted out on September 7.

After a ban on livestock movement was imposed in Britain on Wednesday, the interdiction was lifted Friday in Scotland and Wales.