BBC news presenter Carrie Gracie amused viewers when she blamed a small cough on "studio dust" while reporting on the coronavirus crisis.
Before the segment began, Gracie reassured viewers that she had a "catch in her throat" that was not a persistent cough.
She said: "I'm just going to say now I've just got a catch in my throat that is not a persistent cough and I do not have a fever."
After coughing later in the programme, Ms Gracie blamed it on dust in the studio.
"This studio is sometimes dusty", she said.
Two symptoms of coronavirus are a high temperatures and a new and persistent cough.
BBC viewers took to Twitter to joke about the incident.
One viewer said: "This studio is sometimes dusty, said with the same pointed tone I use when I tell people that I am quite happy single thank you."
Another said: "Carrie Gracie coughing live on air is all of us now."
Gracie became a figurehead for other women at the BBC when she resigned from her position as China editor in January 2018 in protest at pay inequalities at the broadcaster.
It sparked a number of high-profile disputes over equal pay at the Corporation including a recent employment tribunal which found Newswatch presenter Samira Ahmed should have been paid the same as colleague Jeremy Vine for similar work.
