Defra's latest bluetongue situation report sets out a disease-control position that is now national in scope for England and still active across Wales. The published notice states that there have been 341 cases in Great Britain in the 2025 to 2026 season, counted from 1 July 2025. It records 319 cases in England and 23 in Wales, with no cases in Scotland. Separate reporting from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs shows 5 confirmed BTV-3 cases in Northern Ireland. The England breakdown is important for surveillance. Defra says 307 English cases were BTV-3, 4 were BTV-8, 7 involved both BTV-3 and BTV-8, and 1 was recorded as serotype unknown. The government has also published a case map showing premises in Great Britain where one or more animals have tested positive by PCR for serotype 3, 8 or 12, giving keepers and veterinary practices a current reference point for local disease pressure.
Recent dated updates show that detection is continuing through reports of suspicious clinical signs rather than through a single concentrated outbreak. Defra confirmed one new BTV case in England on 22 May 2026 after a suckler cow experienced a late-term abortion, although it was not possible to determine the serotype. On 8 May, one new BTV-3 case was confirmed after 2 cows tested positive following late-term abortions. The April and early May entries also show a pattern of congenital and neurological abnormalities in calves. Defra recorded a stillborn calf in Cumbria with brain deformities on 1 May, an aborted calf in Cumbria with brain deformities, an enlarged spleen and liver damage on 30 April, and further BTV-3 cases on 21 and 17 April in East Sussex, Derbyshire, Wiltshire and West Sussex. Across those reports, officials refer to calves born blind, calves with facial deformities, reduced sucking reflexes and other neurological signs. For herd managers, the practical point is that bluetongue suspicion now extends beyond obvious adult illness and includes abortions, stillbirths and abnormalities at birth.
Defra's risk assessment has shifted with seasonal conditions. The notice states that midges became active again on 31 March 2026 and that recent warm weather has pushed cumulative temperatures high enough for the virus to develop inside the vector. On that basis, onward transmission is now possible. The government continues to rate the risk of incursion of bluetongue virus from all routes as medium, meaning it occurs regularly, while describing the risk of airborne incursion as negligible. The report also notes that infection is not limited to midge exposure. Germinal products, including semen, ova and embryos, remain a recognised route of transmission, which explains why reproductive material is treated more tightly than routine livestock movements in the current control regime.
The regulatory position on control zones is now straightforward in territorial terms, even if the detailed rules still differ by activity. In England, the whole country is within a bluetongue restricted zone. Defra says that animals can be moved within England without a specific bluetongue licence or pre-movement testing, reducing day-to-day friction for domestic trade and on-farm management inside the zone. That easing does not extend to germinal products. Across England, a specific licence is required to freeze semen, ova or embryos, and testing is mandatory before freezing. Defra's declaration also makes clear that keepers carry the cost of sampling, postage and laboratory testing. In Wales, the Welsh Government's all-Wales restricted zone has applied since 00:01 on 10 November 2025. That has allowed free livestock movement between England and Wales without bluetongue vaccination or other mitigation measures, but restrictions on germinal products remain in place.
The movement framework is therefore based less on whether an area is restricted and more on the type of consignment and the destination jurisdiction. Government guidance linked from the notice covers movements within the restricted zone, general licences for moving animals and germinal products from the restricted zone to Scotland or Wales, restrictions on moving, freezing and storing germinal products, and licensed movements of certain animals from Northern Ireland to Great Britain. For producers, markets, hauliers and veterinary advisers, the compliance point is that routine stock movements and reproductive material now sit under different control assumptions. Animals moving within England face fewer specific bluetongue barriers than semen, ova and embryos. Where keepers are uncertain about species-specific identification or movement rules, especially for camelids such as llamas and alpacas, the notice directs them to the Animal and Plant Health Agency for case-specific advice.
Defra's public guidance is not limited to movement law. The update signposts separate material on BTV-3 vaccination and on measures to slow the spread of the disease, placing vaccination and biosecurity alongside movement controls rather than treating them as alternatives. That matters because the current risk picture combines active vectors, recorded clinical disease and a continued need to reduce the chance of local spread. The same notice also reconnects disease control with baseline livestock regulation. It directs keepers to the standing rules on cattle, bison and buffalo in England and Wales, sheep and goats in England, and deer tagging and movement reporting in England. In practice, outbreak management still depends on ordinary record keeping, animal identification and accurate movement reporting. Those systems determine how quickly officials can trace exposure, verify compliance and manage any further restrictions.
The wider control architecture remains set by government guidance rather than by a single emergency instrument. Defra points readers to the rules on imports, exports and EU trade in animals and animal products, to webinar recordings and public information materials, and to the Bluetongue disease control framework in England. Taken together, those documents show a strategy built around surveillance, movement management, testing, vaccination options and communication with keepers. The historical record in the notice explains why officials are treating the present season as part of a longer episode rather than a standalone flare-up. Defra states that the first BTV-3 case of the 2025 to 2026 vector season was confirmed on 11 July 2025. Before that, officials had confirmed 160 BTV-3 cases in England and 2 linked to high-risk moves in Wales between 26 August 2024 and 31 May 2025, alongside 1 BTV-12 case in England on 7 February 2025. Earlier still, between November 2023 and March 2024, Defra confirmed 126 BTV-3 cases in England on 73 premises, the first UK BTV incursions for more than 15 years. The last confirmed outbreak before that was BTV-8 in 2007 to 2008. The operational message remains unchanged: keepers should stay alert to signs of disease and report suspected cases promptly.