The plague, which raged so dreadfully this year at Newcastle, is said to have come over from Holland and other parts beyond the seas. It began at North Shields, in October, 1635, and, after an intermission of some months, broke out again at Newcastle with such fury, that there died in all, of this tremendous visitation, between the 6th of May and the 31st of December, 1636, no less than 5037, and at Gateshead, between the 30th of May and October the 17th the same year, 515 persons. All trade was at a stand in Newcastle, and there is a tradition, that the streets of that town were covered with grass, " the highways were unoccupied." The plague raged so much in Darlington and the neighbourhood, that the fair held at Magdalen tide, was cried down.

From J. Sykes, 1833. Northumberland and Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Berwick upon Tweed, from the earliest period of authentic record, to the present time..Volume 1

The Fever Hospital on Bath Lane in Newcastle opened in 1804. The public raised £1,165 towards the £1,505 cost of the building. Both poor and paying patients were admitted. Physicians from the Dispensary looked after the patients. The hospital was soon overcrowded with patients suffering from cholera, typhoid, smallpox and other contagious diseases.

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There was a cholera outbreak in Sunderland in 1831. Isabella Hazard, a 12 year old girl who lived near the quayside, was one of the first victims. She suddenly fell ill on the 17th October 1831, and died within 24 hours. Another early victim was Jack Crawford, who died from cholera on the 10th November 1831.

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A smallpox isolation hospital was built on Town Moor, Newcastle, in 1882. The building was divided into two units: the Smallpox Hospital, with 72 beds, and an Isolation Section with 100 beds. The early buildings were constructed of timber and corrugated iron.

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A floating hospital, commissioned by the River Tyne Port Sanitary Authority, was launched on the River Tyne on 2nd August, 1886. It was built by Wood, Skinner & Co. of Bill Quay and was moored at Jarrow Slake in South Tyneside. The floating hospital had 3 main buildings each with two wards divided by a nurses’ room and bathroom. The floating hospital also had a small mortuary. A yellow and black flag was flown to warn when there was infection on board. 

City Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Walker, Newcastle, was opened in September 1888. It was built on an 11 acre site previously used as agricultural land. The hospital was one of the first to be built on the single storey 'pavilion' system.

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Pendower Open-Air School on West Road in Benwell was opened in 1925. The school had full-width folding glazed doors on two sides to give increased ventilation.[1] Open-air schools were built around Europe and North America around this time in an attempt to combat the high rate of serious illness among schoolchildren - with infectious disease such as tuberculosis.

< a similar open-air-school in Suresnes, France.

The first two cases of COVID-19 in the UK were confirmed on the 31st January 2020.