Defra states that there has been a provisional 8.8% decrease in the number of new TB incidents in January - October 2009 compared with the same period in 2008.
When viewed alongside the increase in the number of herds tested, this equates to a provisional overall decrease in the number of new TB incidents of 15%.
Basically this shows that the spread of disease into low incidence areas appears to be reducing. However this is only half the story.
In the high incidence areas, TB prevalence is still increasing at an unacceptable rate. In 2009, between January and October, across Britain, 30,046 cattle were compulsorily slaughtered, just 1,697 fewer than the same period in 2008.
2008, incidentally, was seen as an exceptionally bad year for bTB and culminated in the death of almost 40,000 cattle. In terms of business disruption, 7,651 farms were under movement restrictions to the end of Oct 2009.
The two charts
here show headline trends for England and Wales from 2003 to 2008 compared to figures for January to September 2009. (Scotland achieved TB Free Status in 2009).