OTTAWA — “We all need to act now.”

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, issued an urgent call Sunday for Canadians to change their behaviour as she warned that Canada has little time left to prevent a sharp increase in the number of cases of COVID-19.

“With cases rapidly increasing in Canada ... our window to flatten the curve of the epidemic is narrow,” Tam told a news conference.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that further federal action was being considered and did not rule out closing borders. “We are not taking anything off the table,” he said in an interview with CTV’s “Question Period.”

Many countries, such as the U.S. and Spain, have placed restrictions on foreign travellers. No such restrictions are in place in Canada though Ottawa has said it will limit the number of airports where international flights can arrive.

Yet the federal government has come under increasing pressure from B.C. and Quebec to enact border restrictions to curtail the spread of the virus here. Trudeau said Sunday he’s heard the message.

“Of course we are hearing the concerns people have had. The shift in posture from the United States gives us significant things to think about,” Trudeau said.

“There are more measures we are looking at and more things we are going to do,” he said in the interview.

The messages came as provinces took further action to curtail daily activities, from casino closings in Ontario, school closings in Nova Scotia and Quebec’s dramatic order that establishments such as bars, gyms and movie theatres must close.

“Let me be very clear. Today I am asking everyone to take strong action to help us delay the spread of COVID-19 and protect as many people as possible,” Tam said.

Those measures include cancelling non-essential travel outside the country; avoiding large public gatherings, increasing your public space and talking with your employer about working from home, she said.

“This is our chance, right here, right now. We need to act now and we need to act together,” she said.

“You do not want this disease transmitted rapidly. Whatever you can do to decelerate that transmissions and break those chains of transmission is really important. We can do something about this now,” she said.

Officially, Canada had 313 confirmed cases as of Sunday but there are concerns the actual tally is much higher.

For example, Ottawa has 10 cases. But Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa’s medical officer of health, estimated Sunday that the nation’s capital could in fact have as many as 1,000 cases as she issued her own plea for city residents to avoid unnecessary trips outside the home.

“I am asking all people in Ottawa to increase their practices of social distancing,” she said in a letter to city council.

Trudeau said the federal government has gamed out several scenarios for the potential increase in the virus Canada.

“We have contingency plans for a low spread of the virus. We have contingency plans for a maximal spread of the virus. We know that it is much better to stay focused on keeping that curve flat, preventing and delaying people from getting it,” Trudeau said in his CTV interview.

But Canada’s effort to contain the virus was undermined by confusion at Canadian airports over the weekend as arriving travellers said they faced little or no screening, despite the claims of federal officials that enhanced measures had been put in place.

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“I’ve been in the Canada customs line at Pearson for over an hour along with hundreds of people. Six agents on duty, zero screening, no masks, no sanitizer ... This is as unsafe as it can get,” Glen Canning tweeted from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport Saturday.

Tam said that travellers arriving from international destinations should self-isolate for 14 days, a message she said would be communicated to passengers.

Asked why that advice was not being given to weekend travellers, Tam responded, “That is rapidly being implemented right now.”

While Trudeau said that Ottawa had not ruled out making self-isolation mandatory, Tam said that such a move would be difficult to police. “This is a voluntary self-isolation. It is impossible to be essentially keeping tabs on every single traveller that comes in,” she said.

“This is a social phenomenon, this is a societal response and everyone must take that responsibility,” she said.

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil announced Sunday that anyone returning to that province after being abroad will be required to self-isolate for 14 days.

He said the province was working with Canada Border Services Agency to enforce that message. Acknowledging concerns that arriving travellers are being kept in the dark, he said the province would be placing its own staff at the Halifax airport to make sure travellers get the message.

The spread of the virus delivers a double-whammy to countries, with the health crisis and a devastating hit to economies.

The virus was throwing financial markets into an upheaval even before they opened on Monday morning.

Major central banks around the world leapt into action on Sunday afternoon. The U.S. Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate to almost zero. And a group of central banks, including the Bank of Canada, announced a rare co-ordinated action to improve the functioning of the U.S. dollar market.

In times of trouble, many investors buy U.S. dollars and sell off other securities with the belief that U.S. dollars are more secure.

The federal government has pledged to roll out what it says will be a “significant” stimulus package this week.

“Our focus is on making sure Canadians can come out the other side, that we can bridge our way across this ... that means putting money in the pockets of people who maybe can’t work. . . . putting money in the pockets of small businesses,” Trudeau said Sunday.

With files from Heather Scoffield

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