Vacationers arriving at Ottawa's International Airport Wednesday night say they spent the last few days of their Mexican vacation taking precautions against the possibility of catching 'swine flu,' also known as H1N1 influenza A.

"I'm wearing my mask because at airports as busy as Cancun's airport, you get a lot from Mexico City back and forth and you never know," Mexico native Jeronimo Ramirez told CTV Ottawa upon his arrival.

Others recalled making sure their hands were clean every time they entered a busy place.

"Before we could go into the actual restaurants we had to sanitize our hands, so that was something new in the last couple of days," said Jane Costain.

WHO raises alert level

The precautions come as the World Health Organization raised its pandemic alert level to Phase 5, signaling the probability of a pandemic is "high to certain.'

Now, Mexican officials have ordered citizens to stay home as part of the global effort to prevent the spread of swine flu with a suspension of non-essential federal government and private business activity from May 1-5.

Here at home, chartered and most regular flights to hot spot destinations like Cancun and Puerto Vallarta have been cancelled for the time being.

On Monday, the Public Health Agency of Canada issued a travel advisory, urging travellers to postpone "elective or non-essential travel to Mexico until further notice."

Eight cases confirmed in Ontario

So far, eight mild cases of H1N1 influenza have been confirmed in Ontario, all in the Toronto-area. Health officials say all of the cases can be traced back to people who have travelled to Mexico.

Meanwhile, passengers who were on the WestJet flight from Cancun to Ottawa on Wednesday were given pamphlets describing the symptoms of the H1N1 flu.

"They would want you to tell the people onboard the plane, to let them know if you weren't feeling that well," said Mike Goddard.

Still, vacationers like Jane Costain say they enjoyed their trip to sunny Mexico.

"We still enjoyed it, still got a tan, still enjoyed the sun. It just made you really think about what was going on and hopefully everyone's going to be okay."

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Maggie Padlewska