Austria will close two smaller crossings at its border with Slovakia and 21 at its border with Hungary beginning Saturday in an effort to prevent foot-and-mouth illness from entering the nation, the Interior Ministry announced.
The first outbreak of the extremely infectious disease in Hungary in 50 years prompted the country to deploy soldiers and implement disinfection measures on Wednesday to contain it in an area bordering Slovakia and Austria.
The disease, which poses no danger to humans, mostly affects cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals like swine, sheep and goats, causing fever and mouth blisters.
Outbreaks often lead to trade restrictions and culls of some livestock.
Slovakia declared an emergency situation on Tuesday after the disease was found on three farms.
To strengthen efforts aimed at preventing the disease from reaching Austria, the country will focus its police resources at those borders on its main crossings, the ministry said in a statement.
“So as not to undermine these police checks, we ask you to understand that we cannot provide further details, particularly the times, staffing levels, form of checks etc at the various locations,” the ministry said.
