The Army was last night called back in to help fight the spread of the latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease as a Government minister said he feared there could be more devastation for North-East farmers.

From daybreak today, ten teams of soldiers will help deal with the cluster of new cases in Northumberland.

They will work alongside staff from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) who must tackle the job of culling thousands of sheep and cattle.

Ministers took the decision to call in the Army after three new cases of the virus were confirmed on North-umberland farms yesterday - one of which is outside the stringent "blue box" bio-security zone set up around Allendale last week to contain the new outbreak.

The new cases bring the total in the Northumberland cluster to 16.

Defra was last night considering whether to enlarge the security zone, which covers about 400 square miles, or to set up a separate one, north of the A69 around Greyside Farm, at Fourstones, near Hexham, where 383 cattle and 1,038 sheep were slaughtered yesterday.

The other two cases are at Elrington Hall Farm, at Haydon Bridge, where 280 cows will be culled, and Low Eshells Farm, Hexham, which will lose 211 cows and 1,419 sheep. Both farms are in the strictly-controlled zone.

The farmer at Greyside Farm, who asked not to be named, said last night: "Everybody's in such a state we can hardly speak. There's people coming and going and all these things to do but we are all just devastated."

John Clarke, who is the newsagent at Haydon Bridge, not far from the new outbreak, said: "We've been clear for four months and everyone thought 'it's looking good'. It's devastating for everyone."

Northumberland County Council said the county was still open for business after hearing reports that tourists had cancelled holidays.

About 25,000 sheep and 4,500 cattle will be, or have already been, culled since the new wave of cases began in Northumberland.

Rural Affairs Minister Lord Whitty met farmers, soldiers and Defra staff on a visit to the region yesterday.

At a briefing at Newcastle's Emergency Disease Control Centre, he said he expected there to be more new cases in Northumberland

Lord Whitty said: "It is clear that in some cases the disease has been here for two to three weeks. That does indicate there probably has been a significant spread and that is already clear in the valley.

"The real danger at this stage of the disease is if a spark goes from here into other areas. It is absolutely essential we control movements of vehicles, personnel and animals out of the blue box area."

Read more about foot-and-mouth here.