Jason Leitch has criticised Rangers' five Covid rule breakers and admits he 'cannot understand why they did what they did'.

The national clinical director followed Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in her condemnation of the five - Calvin Bassey, Nathan Patterson, Brian Kinnear, Bongani Zungu and Dapo Mebude.

Ms Sturgeon demanded Scottish football 'get its house in order' and Leitch, speaking to BBC's Off the Ball, revealed frustration at the incident which resulted in the players being fined by their club and dropped from the squad following an internal investigation.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon slams Rangers and Celtic Covid breaches

He also explained the problems and anxieties that come with protocol breaches such as this one, including all the different aspects that must be considered to ensure everyone remains safe and uninfected. "That story from Rangers this week is another indication of our frustration," Leitch said.

"Whenever there's a breach the first thing you are doing is putting yourself at risk. So the first question I asked, when I heard about the breach was, 'Is everybody healthy?'. And that is the first question I have asked in all the other breaches in football that have happened over the last few months.

"Is everybody healthy? Do they need a hospital? Do they need health care? Do they need a test?

"Now the next question is, 'Who else have they put at risk?' Let's think about everybody else who was in that house. Who they live with, who they have met since? That is what call tracing does. And you get to big numbers pretty quickly.

"Then you get to the wider population measure we have just decided. I think it is a bad example and I think elite sportsmen should set a good example, just like radio hosts should set a good example. 

"My head cannot understand why those guys what they did."

Ms Sturgeon recently said: "Whenever football rears its head I'm accused of being partial to one club or another. I don't care which club is involved. It is really unfair to the vast majority of people who don't have the privileges elite sports people do.

"People think 'Why am I bothering?' Scottish football, make sure your house is in order. I don't care whether its Celtic, Rangers or any other club. It's not on."