An amateur musician said he thought it would be ‘good publicity’ to film himself shouting that he had coronavirus on a plane carrying 243 passengers.

The flight from Toronto to Jamaica was forced to turn back and make an emergency landing after James Potok, 28, declared: ‘Can I get everybody’s attention please.

I just came back from Hunan province, the capital of the coronavirus. I’m not feeling too well. Thank you.’ He later said ‘it was simply a joke’ and that he had hoped to go viral on Instagram with the prank, which saw him being escorted off the plane in a mask and gloves that airline staff made him wear.

Potok was arrested and charged with mischief after the WestJet plane was forced to turn back and a second flight was also cancelled as a result.

Passenger Julie-Anne Broderick posted on Facebook that the man ‘pretended he had the coronavirus as a hoax to post to YouTube’, adding: ‘Little did he know, Jamaica and the US wouldn’t accept our flight so back to Canada we came where he was detained for a federal offence.’

She said: ‘We were just over Florida and all of a sudden we felt the plane do a pretty dramatic turn. We were flying in the opposite direction all of a sudden and it said our final destination was back in Toronto. So we were very confused and worried.

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‘I guess this guy thought it was a funny joke but it’s just really weird. ‘We were all very frustrated, to just displace 240 people, it’s just so selfish. We’ve lost a day of our vacation.’ Investigators confirmed Potok was assessed by medical staff when he arrived back at Pearson Airport in Toronto and he did not have the virus.

He will appear at the Ontario Court of Justice on Monday, March 9. In a statement a WestJet spokesman said: ‘Out of an abundance of caution, our crew followed all protocols for infectious disease on board, including sequestering an individual who made an unfounded claim regarding coronavirus.

‘Due to the involvement of law enforcement, as well as the privacy of our guests, we are not able to provide additional information about the incident at this time.’ Hubei province is actually where the epicentre of the coronavirus is situated, in its capital Wuhan city.

The coronavirus death toll has climbed to 490 in mainland China. There remains one additional fatality in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines. There are now 24,505 confirmed cases around the world, 24,292 being in mainland China.