Britain Has More Bluetongue Cases This Season Than in the Last Three Combined
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Animal and Plant Health Agency have confirmed 2,485 cases of bluetongue in the UK in the 2026 to 2027 season, more than the three previous seasons added together. The two bodies updated the count on Oct. 2, 2026.
Bluetongue does not infect people and does not affect food safety. It is spread by biting midges, and it sickens sheep, cattle and other grazing animals, killing some of them. From Oct. 3, 2026, a restricted zone covers the whole of Scotland, so keepers there have movement controls to follow and need a license for some moves. England and Wales are already country-wide restricted zones.
Scotland recorded no bluetongue cases at all in the 2025 to 2026 season, according to Defra's own case record. It has 40 this season, most of them in Dumfries and Galloway in the south west, where a smaller zone was already in force, and the record now also lists cases in Aberdeenshire and Angus in the north east.
The record gives 348 cases for that season across Great Britain, 163 the year before, and 126 the year before that, when bluetongue came back to the UK after more than 15 years away. A case means a premises where the virus has been confirmed rather than a single animal, and the agencies say the number of affected animals is probably much higher, because testing does not always cover every animal on a site.
The agencies noted that temperatures across much of the UK and nearby continental Europe are still high enough for the virus to develop inside the midges, so transmission is happening now. They put the risk of a fresh incursion by all routes at medium and by airborne routes at low.
Another 890 premises in Great Britain have reported suspicious signs and are waiting for test results. Livestock keepers in England can apply for a funded vet visit for advice on cutting the risk and a check on their animals.
