The First Minister said: “We know that there are particularly serious outbreaks in three specific English local authority areas – Bedford, Bolton and Blackford and Darwen.” “So for that reason, for Monday onwards, we are putting hopefully temporary travel restrictions on travel between Scotland and those three local authority areas in England.

“So if you were planning to visit friends or relatives or to stay in those areas you must delay your visit.”

Ms Sturgeon also said it “makes more sense” to review coronavirus restrictions on a weekly basis, after announcing Glasgow will be the only area to remain in Level 3 of Scotland’s measures.

Speaking at a Scottish Government coronavirus briefing on Friday, the First Minister said authorities are “fairly certain” the increase in cases in the city is being driven by the Indian variant – referred to by Ms Sturgeon as April-02 – with “extensive public health measures” deployed over the past 10 days.

The number of cases per 100,000 people in Glasgow has increased from 71 last week to 122.6 in the seven days to May 18.

East Renfrewshire, which earlier this week had a higher seven-day average rate of cases than Glasgow, will remain in Level 2.

Ms Sturgeon also said improvements in Moray mean it can join the rest of mainland Scotland in Level 2 on Saturday.

Infection levels in Moray, in the north-east of Scotland, are down from 98 cases per 100,000 people last week to 37, with test positivity falling from 2.8% to 1.3%.

In Level 2, people can hug and meet indoors – subject to restrictions – travel across the UK and overseas, and hospitality venues can open later than in Level 3 and serve alcohol indoors.

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Ms Sturgeon said the total number of cases in East Renfrewshire is significantly smaller than in Glasgow, with only 17 on Thursday compared to 166 in the city, and could be traced to “specific household clusters”.

Asked whether Glasgow could face restrictions for a longer period because of the numbers, she said: “The reason I’m not saying we’ll come back in three weeks now is I hope the overall duration of these higher level restrictions in Glasgow will be shorter than was the case earlier this year and at the tail end of last year.

“I think it actually makes more sense to review on a weekly basis, because we don’t want to keep Glasgow in higher level restrictions any longer than is necessary… because of the scale of the public health interventions that we have in deployment right now.

“And in determining where to put travel restrictions we just have to be mindful of people’s travel patterns – people might live in the south side of Glasgow but in the city they don’t necessarily stay in the south side of Glasgow all the time because they work elsewhere and vice versa.”

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She also urged fans not to gather in big groups to watch the Scottish Cup final on Saturday.

The First Minister said supporters should not assemble in large numbers either in pubs or in people’s homes.

The match between Hibernian and St Johnstone is being held behind closed doors at Hampden Park in Glasgow.

Speaking at a Scottish Government coronavirus briefing on Friday, she said: “That is still against public health rules and is not safe in the current situation we face.”

She also warned supporters of whichever team wins that “no-one should be congregating anywhere in large numbers at the moment”.

Police Scotland has also issued a warning to fans ahead of the match, which kicks off at 2pm.

More to follow…