Defra's latest situation update states that 339 cases of bluetongue have been confirmed in Great Britain during the 2025 to 2026 season, measured from 1 July 2025. Of those, 316 cases were recorded in England and 23 in Wales, while Scotland has recorded no cases in the current period. The English total is split across 305 cases of BTV-3, 4 cases of BTV-8 and 7 cases where both serotypes were detected. Defra also directs keepers to a PCR case map showing affected premises in Great Britain, while the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland has separately reported 5 confirmed BTV-3 cases.
The most recent confirmations listed by Defra for April and May 2026 were identified after reports of suspicious clinical signs. On 1 May, one stillborn calf in Cumbria was confirmed with BTV-3 after brain deformities were identified. On 30 April, another Cumbria case involved an aborted calf with brain deformities, an enlarged spleen and liver damage. Earlier notifications followed the same pattern. Defra recorded cases on 21 April in East Sussex and Derbyshire, on 17 April in Wiltshire and West Sussex, on 14 April in Cornwall, on 10 April in Powys and on 8 April in Devon. The signs described across those reports included calves born blind, neurological symptoms, reduced or poor sucking reflexes, convulsions, deafness, facial deformities and post-mortem evidence of brain damage or cavitation. In East Sussex, Defra said two dummy calves had also been born in the same herd over the previous two months, while in Wiltshire three calves were affected in one report.
Defra says temperatures are rising and that the midges which spread bluetongue became active again on 2 April 2026. Even so, the official expert assessment still rates the risk of spread through midges as very low because conditions have not been warm enough for long enough for the virus to develop inside the insect. That does not remove the wider disease-control concern. Defra states that animals can still become infected through germinal products such as semen, ova and embryos, and that the overall risk of incursion of bluetongue virus into England from all routes remains medium. The department describes the risk of airborne incursion as negligible.
The control regime is now defined by national restricted zones. Defra states that the whole of England is within a bluetongue restricted zone, and its zone map remains the reference point for checking the formal position of holdings. The practical effect is that susceptible animals can move within England without a specific bluetongue licence or pre-movement test. Wales is operating under a parallel all-Wales restricted zone introduced from 00:01 on 10 November 2025. According to Welsh Government guidance, livestock can now move between England and Wales without bluetongue vaccination or other mitigation measures that previously applied. For many keepers, that removes one layer of friction for routine livestock movements across the border.
The main legal constraint now sits around reproductive material. In England, Defra requires a specific licence for the freezing of semen, ova and embryos anywhere in the restricted zone, and donor testing is mandatory. The department also states that keepers are responsible for the cost of sampling, postage and laboratory testing. The Welsh position is similar on germinal products. Welsh Government guidance keeps testing requirements in place before freezing and marketing, on the basis that this provides quality assurance and reduces the risk of longer-term transmission. For breeders, breeding companies and veterinary advisers, the distinction between live animal movements and germinal material is therefore one of the most important compliance points in the current system.
Defra's movement guidance sits alongside wider traceability and trade rules rather than replacing them. Keepers are directed to separate guidance on movements within the restricted zone, general licences for certain movements from the restricted zone to Scotland or Wales, restrictions on germinal products, and DAERA arrangements for some animal movements from Northern Ireland to Great Britain. The same page set also points traders to the rules on imports, exports and EU trade in animals and animal products. Identification and record-keeping duties remain in force underneath those disease controls. Defra links keepers to the standard rules for cattle, sheep, goats and deer, and advises anyone keeping camelids, including llamas and alpacas, to contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency if they are unsure of the position. In practice, bluetongue controls now operate as an additional compliance layer on top of ordinary livestock movement law.
Defra has published separate guidance on BTV-3 vaccination and on slowing the spread of bluetongue through biosecurity and husbandry measures. The department's standing message remains that keepers should stay alert to signs of disease and report suspicion promptly. Supporting material has also been built into the response. Defra provides recorded webinars, leaflets, videos and posters for the sector, giving farmers and advisers a common reference point on symptom recognition, movement decisions and the circumstances in which testing or licensing rules still apply. That is a sign of a response being managed through routine administration as much as through outbreak announcements.
The present arrangements sit within Defra's published Bluetongue disease control framework in England. Defra says the first BTV-3 case of the 2025 to 2026 vector season was confirmed on 11 July 2025. Before that, the department had confirmed 160 BTV-3 cases in England and 2 cases linked to high-risk moves in Wales between 26 August 2024 and 31 May 2025, alongside one BTV-12 case in England on 7 February 2025. The longer record helps explain why the policy response now looks more settled. Defra recorded 126 BTV-3 cases on 73 English premises between November 2023 and March 2024, covering 119 cattle and 7 sheep, and described those detections as the first UK bluetongue incursions for more than 15 years. The last confirmed outbreak before that was BTV-8 in 2007 to 2008. Taken together, the latest position places restricted zones, movement rules and breeding controls at the centre of day-to-day livestock administration in England and Wales.