NHS bosses have no plans to open Sunderland's Nightingale Hospital, despite rising coronavirus cases across the region.
The NHS said it will not admit any patients to the 460-bed facility in Sunderland.
The Nightingale North East Hospital opened in May 2020 but has yet to treat a single patient.
It was one of seven built in England to cope with the feared pressures on the NHS from the first Covid-19 wave.
A spokeswoman for the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "We have no plans at the present time to be admitting patients to the Nightingale."
NHS trust's throughout the North East have warned of the continued threat of coronavirus in the community as hospitals experience increasing numbers of Covid-infected patients on its wards.
Last week, the Durham and Darlington NHS Trust revealed it was treating 177 Covid-19 patients in its hospitals and had stood down orthopaedic elective surgery to cope with demand.
In October, Manchester's Nightingale hospital reopened for non-Covid patients, while patients are also being treated in Nightingale hospitals in Exeter, Bristol, and Harrogate.
And last week London Mayor Sadiq Khan confirmed London's hospital is due to open in the coming days.
Public Health England confirmed 139,591 people in the North East have tested positive for Covid-19 with 11,930 cases confirmed in the last seven days.
