THE Scottish government tonight called on the SFA to "look into" Celtic's trip to Dubai - and warned they could remove travel exemptions for European and international competition if they are being abused by elite sports teams.

The Parkhead club have moved their SPFL Premiership match against Hibernian from Saturday, January 9, to Monday January 11, and travelled to the United Arab Emirates for a warm-weather training break this week.

The quadruple treble winners, who fell 19 points behind Rangers in the league when they lost 1-0 at Ibrox on Saturday, flew out of the country at the weekend.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today announced that Scotland was being placed into full lockdown from midnight tonight until February in order to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Holyrood have urged the SFA to examine the legitimacy of the Celtic trip.

A Scottish government statement read: "We would expect the SFA to look into Celtic's trip further – while there are travel exemptions for elite sports which are designed to facilitate international and European competition, if we feel they’re being abused, we won’t hesitate to remove this privilege."

Deputy First Minister John Swinney today stated that Celtic's trip to Dubai wasn't a "particularly great example to set".

Speaking BBC Radio Scotland, he said: "They will be allowed back in, but they'll have to follow all rules in the process.

"Frankly, I don't think it's a good idea to be doing that at this stage. I don't think it's a good idea.

"I don't think it's a particularly great example to set to people when we're asking members of the public to take on very significant restrictions on the way in which they live their lives.

"I think we've all got to demonstrate leadership on this particular question."

The UAE is on the current official list of exempt countries - meaning there will be no need for Celtic players and staff to self-isolate for 10 days on their return to Scotland.