Hundreds of jobs in the North East are now at risk at the Integrated Covid Hub North East (ICHNE) - which has provided state-of-the-art Covid testing capacity, data-led public health advice and even helped with the Test and Trace effort.
The Government's UK Health Security Agency has announced it is ending its contract with ICHNE, and this will mean the end of Gateshead's Lighthouse Lab facility - which opened less than a year ago.
The UKHSA has made the decision after the Government's move to a so-called "Living with Covid" strategy mean it thinks a vast Covid-19 testing infrastructure is no longer needed.
