A US newsreader immediately issued an apology following on on-air gaffe in which he mistakenly announced that a coronavirus patient had passed away.

Bill Ritter, an anchor for New York's ABC 7, said he felt "horrible" as soon as he realized that he had made the error in his update about a young man whose fight against the coronavirus had previously been documented on air.

“I do want to mention one person who was singled out today by (New Jersey) Governor Murphy. That man that you’re looking at right there: 26-year-old Jack Allard,” Ritter said as images of a happy and healthy Allard pre-coronavirus were seen on the screen."We profiled him last month with a powerful story. He was in a medically-induced coma after coming down with the virus. After spending time on a ventilator and five full weeks in the hospital, the Governor today announcing that Jack has died.”

Watch the embarrassing gaffe below:

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The news channel then cut to a clip of Governor Murphy announcing in a press conference that Allard had in fact recovered, and that he was "clapped out by the doctors and nurses who saved his life as he walked out of the hospital.”

This veteran has raised an astounding amount of money for the NHS amid the coronavirus pandemic:

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Ritter, who looked rather sheepish, then resumed the story. "I feel horrible. Jack is very much alive. Jack, we love you…" he asserted

"Again: Jack is alive and back home. He has come home, not in the figurative sense, but in the quite literal sense. My deepest apologies for that; I was just … misread everything and I apologize but he is alive and we are grateful for that.”

Talk about awkward...

News reporter forced to apologise after announcing somebody had died when they hadn't