South Africa’s Department of Agriculture has confirmed a fresh outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease on a commercial farm in the Moqhaka Local Municipality, Free State. The property was quarantined last week after laboratory tests returned positive, and livestock within a 10-kilometre radius are under close monitoring. The episode adds to a widening crisis: authorities have logged 270 FMD outbreaks across five of the country’s nine provinces since the start of the year, of which 249 remain active. KwaZulu-Natal accounts for 191 of the total, with 172 cases still unresolved, while Gauteng, North West and Mpumalanga have reported smaller clusters. Officials said trace-back investigations, intensified surveillance and emergency vaccination are under way to limit further spread. The department urged farmers to tighten biosecurity protocols and pledged to keep industry stakeholders updated as containment efforts progress.