Football fans planning to attend games in Scotland tonight are being urged to "stay at home" in a bid to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said there were dangers for supporters travelling to Premiership games in Edinburgh, Perth and Paisley.
During an announcement in the Scottish Parliament yesterday First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said live sports will be "effectively spectator-free" for three weeks from Boxing Day as part of new covid restrictions.
Only 500 fans will be allowed in stadiums for the period which has led to calls from many clubs in the top division to ask for the winter break to be brought forward.
There are three games in the Premiership tonight, Hibernian v Aberdeen, St Johnstone v Ross County and St Mirren v Celtic while there are two games in the lower leagues Montrose v Peterhead and Cowdenbeath v Edinburgh City.
Swinney, who is also the Covid Recovery Minister, was asked on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland if fans should be heading to matches tonight.
He said: "There are clearly dangers of people travelling to football matches because they're going to be going into multiple modes of transport.
"They may well be car sharing, there may well be using supporters buses and all the rest of it.
"These are opportunities for the virus to spread and we know that the Omicron variant spreads much more aggressively than is the case.
"If people want to protect their community then I would encourage them to follow the guidance that we've said, which is to stay at home and to restrict their social interaction."
He added: "Our guidance to people is basically to restrict their social interaction to stay at home more than they would do.
"So I would encourage people to do exactly that."
Following Sturgeon's announcement yesterday Swinney was asked if the League Cup final between Hibernian and Celtic could have been a super spreader event, he replied: "It could well be and I think I regret the fact that we didn't make this decision earlier.
"I would have wished we'd taken the decision earlier. That's nobody's fault. I was one of the people involved in the decision."
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