This tracing has resulted in a number of premises being inspected that have connections to the Newcastle area.  This has included 2,000 hives being inspected around Moree, Inverell, Tamworth and Kempsey areas.  NO mites have been detected in this surveillance.

Further tracing has identified a connected operation near Narrabri.  These hives have been inspected with the assistance of volunteers and a single mite has been detected in one load of bees.  These hives are now declared as new infested premises and are on the DPI map.

Whilst this new detection is not the news we wanted to hear it is still directly connected to the Newcastle zone. These hives were moved out of the Newcastle zone in May to Narrabri.

Pallets of miticide strips have landed from New Zealand allowing the surveillance efforts to significantly ramp up in the purple zones.  Teams of volunteers are being mobilized for deployment when the weather clears on Wednesday.

Work in the background is also occurring around forward planning the easing of the state-wide restrictions.  This is a risk based approach and we will communicate as soon as we have plan moving forward.

All the Infested Premises (IP) and emergency zones are now identified within the NSW DPI Biosecurity (Varroa mite) Emergency Orders and the interactive map.

https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/biosecurity/seasonal-pests-and-diseases/spring/varroa-mite

Beekeepers can check and notify NSW DPI if their hives are in any of 10km, 25km and 50km emergency zones which are here www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/varroa.

Notification can be made:

• by telephone, to the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline 1800 084 881,
• by online form at http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/varroa.
• by email, to hive.location@emergency.dpi.nsw.gov.au.

If anyone in NSW has found Varroa mite, they must tell NSW DPI immediately.

The NSW statewide stand still order is still in place and will remain until the Varroa mite is contained. AHBIC is working incredibly hard for industry to ensure the standstill order is in place for as short a time as possible.

Please ensure you remain updated with the latest information by looking on the NSW DPI website: www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/varroa