BBC presenter Carrie Gracie amuses viewers after blaming cough on 'studio dust'

Read live virus updates here Coronavirus: The symptoms
Luke O'Reilly19 March 2020

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.

Carrie Gracie had a small cough on air (BBC)
bbc

"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.

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