The agriculture ministry has banned the export of cattle following the discovery of a new strain of the disease bluetongue in three animals at different farms in the east of the country, reports the Volkskrant.

Vets are to run tests on the animals which appear to have a variant of bluetongue which has not been seen before in the Netherlands.
Bluetongue does not affect humans. But the disease is extremely dangerous for cattle such as cows, sheep and goats.