London ? A new case of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed in Britain on Friday, the sixth such case in recent weeks, environment officials said.

As a precaution, authorities had already begun slaughtering about 40 cows on the farm, which was inside a two-mile protection zone set up around the latest reported cases in Surrey, south of London, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.

Two new cases were detected in Surrey last week and government vets confirmed the disease was the same strain found at three other locations where a foot-and-mouth outbreak began Aug. 3.