Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole says the federal government needs to immediately stop admitting flights from COVID-19 "hot spot" countries like India and Brazil.

He says the move would buy time to figure out a better plan for stopping variants of concern from getting into Canada.

O'Toole doesn't have specifics for what he thinks should happen to beef up border protections beyond not allowing flights to land from certain countries.

Health Canada says about one per cent of arriving passengers are testing positive but can't say how many have tested positive after 10 days.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet says he supports the federal Conservatives' call to immediately block flights from "hot spot" countries like India and Brazil to cut down on the flow of COVID-19 variants into Canada.

Blanchet says barring those flights from touching down is the "responsible thing to do," and should happen "rapidly and severely."

He says exceptions could be made for essential services, particularly those involving Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines produced in India.