Newcastle city council has closed all its museums until further notice.
The authority says it is 'ramping up' measures to protect the public from the 'escalating' pandemic.
It says: "Resilience and continuity plans are being updated to ensure priority services are maintained to protect the most vulnerable people in the city as national measures to control the outbreak are stepped up and impact the way we all go about our daily lives."
Museums in the city closed their doors at 5pm on Wednesday and will be shut, at least, until Friday May 1, although they could remain shut for longer.
The Discovery Museum in Blandford Square, the Laing Art Gallery in New Bridge Street West, The Hatton Gallery in Kings Road and the Great North Museum (Hancock), Barras Bridge are all now shut until further notice.
Durham University and Sunderland City Council have also shut their museums.
Beamish Museum will close at 4pm on Friday March 19. It will remain closed until at least May 1. The Great North Steam Fair and Horses at Work events are also postponed.
