Piers Morgan steps back from presenting Good Morning Britain after developing coronavirus symptom

The programme will be hosted by ITV presenter Ben Shephard alongside Susanna Reid as Morgan waits for his test results, which are due on Monday.

Morgan tweeted: “On medical advice, and out of an abundance of caution for a mild symptom that arose in the past 48 hours, I’ve had a test for Covid-19 and so won’t be working on Good Morning Britain until I get the result back, which should be tomorrow.”

This week, Morgan was cleared of breaching TV watchdog Ofcom’s rules after attracting more than 3,000 complaints over his “combative” questioning of care minister Helen Whately in two interviews.

During an animated interview, he asked Ms Whately for the number of health workers and care workers who had died from the illness.

She accused him of “shouting at me and not giving me a chance to answer your questions” and “attempting to score points”.

Morgan defended his approach, saying it was not as “uncomfortable” as the conditions for the carers on the front line of the coronavirus crisis.

Almost 600 viewers also complained about another interview, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock on April 16, who accused him of constantly interrupting him.

Morgan has also attracted positive publicity in recent weeks, as one of the famous faces taking on the 2.6 challenge which replaced the London Marathon, and raised money for struggling charities last Sunday.

A host of huge names, including Sir Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff and David Haye went through a workout, led by Morgan, in aid of the Ruth Strauss Foundation.