Australia officially free of horse flu 11 months after outbreak

Australia has been pronounced officially free of equine influenza this week — nearly 11 months later after the outbreak began in New South Wales.

On Monday 30 June the Australian government announced that horses will now be able to move freely around the country. And travelling horse statements, which were introduced in February, will no longer be needed.

As a precautionary measure surveillance will continue until the end of the year but no cases have been detected since Christmas Day last year.

Authorities are still working on a system to register horses in order to control any future disease outbreaks. And people holding horse events will still need to register the event and also keep a record of attendees.

The outbreak, which led to the cancellation of the 2007 Sydney Spring Carnival and the Queensland Summer Carnival also threatened the Melbourne Cup and cost the country millions of dollars.

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