United Airlines gets slammed after COVID-19 positive passenger dies onboard

A passenger on board United Airlines Flight 591 had a medical emergency and died after exhibiting noticeable coronavirus symptoms upon boarding the plane. United Airlines is currently working with the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to contact the other passengers on the said flight that was diverted from Orlando to Los Angeles but ended up in an emergency landing on Monday in New Orleans due to the incident.

According to a statement from the airline, just over an hour into the flight the cabin crew were informed that a male passenger had suffered cardiac arrest.

The man was observed on the plane shaking and sweating and seemed to have had difficulty breathing even before the plane took off. Once mid-air the man's condition deteriorated quickly, which made the captain decide to do an emergency landing for medical assistance.

Airline staff then asked if there were any doctors onboard and a number of people volunteered to help.

One of the passengers, Tony Aldapa, helped perform CPR on the man.

"There was no mouth-to-mouth at all. We were doing chest compressions and they had him on the oxygen mask from the plane, then once we had a medical bag that is kept on board we used an ambu-bag which is a bag that you squeeze to give breaths, that's what we used for breathing," Aldapa recalled.

"By the point that I got there to the point where the fire department got on board, it was at least 45 minutes," he added.

The passenger's wife was overheard telling the EMT that her husband had been manifesting COVID-19 symptoms for the past week as he had lost his sense of taste and smell. However, when he checked into the flight, the passenger claimed that he had not been diagnosed with Covid-19 and did not have Covid-related symptoms.

Paramedics transported the man to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to the airline, all United passengers have to self-report if they have experienced any coronavirus symptoms prior to their intended travel. A spokeswoman for United Airlines said they received more information about the health of this particular passenger and "it is apparent he wrongly acknowledged this requirement."

In an article on the Daily Mail, United Airlines has confirmed that it was contacted by the CDC to inform them that the man in question was indeed infected with the coronavirus.

After the incident, Aldapa took to Twitter and revealed that he has since become symptomatic and is awaiting the results of his second test.

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has asked United for the passenger manifest so other passengers can be informed that they might have been exposed to a disease .