Government Lifts State of Emergency Related to Outbreak of FMD in Slovakia

Bratislava, 19 November (TASR) - At its regular session on Wednesday, the government decided to lift the state of emergency that was declared in connection with the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) that hit Slovakia earlier this year. The state of emergency will thus end at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. "The aim of declaring the state of emergency was to create conditions for taking necessary measures to prevent the spread of the highly contagious FMD virus on Slovak territory, to enable the affected entities to coordinate their rescue work activities effectively, to issue orders for rescue work and to implement measures aimed at addressing this emergency, as well as to mitigate its negative impacts," explained the Interior Ministry. The government provided €10 million to deal with the emergency. The money was used to cover expenditures related to civil protection tasks and measures dealing with the extraordinary situation and to the adoption of measures. More than €4.32 million of the total sum hasn't been used. The government on Wednesday approved a change in its use by the Interior Ministry so that it can cover personal expenditures in connection with implementing work during the outbreak. Foot-and-mouth disease is a serious, highly contagious and febrile viral disease among livestock with significant economic impacts. It affects cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and other ungulate ruminants. ko/df