MAFF is expected to announce today the slaughter of up to 100,000 healthy ewes which cannot be moved to lambing sheds in badly affected areas. Although this news was received with dismay in many quarters, it is not as bad - yet - as the first suggestion that as many as half a million ewes might be killed.

Government bodies launched a campaign to persuade visitors that the countryside is not all closed. The Countryside Agency points out that many visitors go for a drive, have meals in pubs or hotels, tour theme parks or browse in antique shops - activities which do not pose a threat of spreading F&M in most areas.

Says agency chairman Ewen Cameron: "Many of these activities will support the countryside at a time of crisis rather than harm it."

The agency is setting up an information service to tell people where they can go and what they can do in ways which will not add to the dangers. In this, they have already been beaten to the gun by the Yorkshire Dales National Park (see here).

NFU President Ben Gill is to join Londoners this Sunday in a special church service at one of the capital's most famous churches, St Martins-in-the-Fields, just off Trafalgar Square, to pray for the country's beleaguered countryside.

He said today: "The level of concern and sympathy for the current plight of farming families from Londoners is overwhelming and many people living in the city have asked for this opportunity to express their support."

"Too often people talk about a divide between the town and countryside but the reality is that many people in London are deeply upset by the current plight of British farmers."