David Koch leaves Sunrise broadcast early due to laryngitis

David Koch has been forced to abandon Sunrise hosting duties due to a health issue.

David Koch left the Sunrise broadcast three hours early due to a health issue.

The breakfast show star was on screen for the first 25 minutes of the program on Tuesday but vanished after an ad break.

His sudden departure was announced by Natalie Barr who told viewers her co-anchor was suffering with a bout of laryngitis.

“You may notice something slightly different,” she said to the camera.

“Kochie came in [and] he bravely fought on for about 25 minutes. He had laryngitis yesterday and apparently he’s still got it. He couldn’t really speak.”

The popular host had been sporting a croaky voice earlier in the morning.

Kochie was quickly replaced by sports presenter Mark Beretta on the newsdesk while he recovered off screen.

The early finish comes just days after the Sunrise hosts went toe to toe with Labour leader Anthony Albanese over which televised debates he will take part in.

Sunrise star David Koch, with Natalie Barr, left hosting duties early on Tuesday morning.

Mr Albanese did the rounds of breakfast television on his first morning out of Covid isolation, with each network vying to host a contest between him and Scott Morrison.

In a back-and-forth with the hosts, Mr Albanese said he had a “longstanding” commitment which meant he would be unavailable on Thursday night.

“Look, Scott Morrison has been trying to say, ‘I’ll decide when every debate will be.’,” Mr Albanese said.

Koch retorted: “Well we will get our people to talk to your people and ScoMo’s people because I think we need a debate”.

Sunrise has Seven been a ratings juggernaut for Seven for almost a decade, with 2021 the 18th year in a row it ranked number 1 in its timeslot.

The breakfast show has also nabbed the top spot every day nationally for the past three years.