British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair has ordered a series of moves to try to speed up the government's response to the foot-and-mouth crisis.
He held talks this morning with Agriculture Minister Mr Nick Brown and chief vet Dr Jim Scudamore in the latest of what is becoming an almost daily routine of briefings.
Downing Street said afterwards the government was now looking to recruit more vets from abroad; discussing whether vets could move from one infected farm to another in a shorter quarantine period than the present five days; hoping to license five more rendering plants in the north west and north Devon to deal with carcasses and agree a streamlined valuation regime for animals to be slaughtered with the National Farmers' Union.
A spokesman for Mr Blair said: "The meeting this morning focused almost entirely on the practical steps that can be taken to speed up the process of detection, evaluation, slaughter and disposal."
At present vets cannot move from an infected farm on to another premises for five days. In Cumbria this has already been brought down to three days "and could be brought down further", said the spokesman.
He added more than 100 vets have already been recruited from abroad "and we are looking to see whether we can recruit more".
Mr Blair is due to hold further talks later today with representatives of the tourist industry and NFU leaders.
PA