THE Deptuy First Minister has claimed that Sunday's Premier Sports Cup final between Celtic and Hibernian could have been a "super spreader event" as cases of the Omicron variant of Covid rise.

Around 48,000 were in attendance at Hampden as Ange Postecoglou secured the first silverware of his reign as Parkhead manager, with John Swinney admitting his regret that limitations on the size of the crowd were not in place.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced on Tuesday afternoon that new restrictions will be implemented on Boxing Day, when no more than 500 spectators will be able to attend games "for a three-week period".

Swinney told BBC Radio Scotland: "It stands to reason that if we have large numbers of people, 50,000 fans, travelling towards a sporting event in one particular part of the country, using multiple modes of transport and interacting with each other, there is a very high danger that that will be a super spreader of an event.”

When asked if the showpiece occasion has the potential to be 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.”

He added: “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.”