Quarantine can last two years or longer

When a farm is placed under quarantine due to a suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), it can take two years or longer before the quarantine is lifted.

- Alida de Beer

This also applies to surrounding farms within a 10km radius of the index farm. The quarantine is usually lifted within a year of Day Zero, the day when no symptoms remain, says Dr Muller Strydom of the George Animal Hospital.

"The authorities are working to reduce the period after Day Zero to three months, although the 12-month period provides more certainty."