Gatherings of more than 500 people should be banned in Scotland amid fears over the spread of Coronavirus.

Nicola Sturgeon said she was not recommending the closure of schools and universities at this stage, but was "minded" to cancel public events attracting over 500 people in order to ease pressures on frontline emergency services, including police and ambulance workers, who would have to be on standby at such gatherings.

She said she would be putting the recommendation forward at today's emergency Cobra meeting with the leaders of the other three UK nations. 

However, the Scottish Government could find itself locking horns with Westminster amid reports that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will reject calls for tough social distancing measures at this stage. 

He is reportedly pushing for a more limited response such as asking anyone with a high temperature or cold symptoms to self-quarantine, and urging elderly people who are most at risk from the virus to stay indoors.

It comes as Ireland, which reported its first coronavirus death on Wednesday, announced a major crackdown to halt its spread. 

Schools, colleges, childcare facilities and cultural centres such as museums will close from 6pm today, with advice issued to cancel all indoor mass gatherings involving 100 people or more and outdoor gatherings of 500 or more.

Ireland has confirmed 43 cases of Covid-19 so far, compared to 460 in the UK - including 36 in Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon also said there was likely to be a "sharp rise" in confirmed cases of coronavirus in Scotland today, and more evidence of community transmission - a key signal that the virus is no longer being contained. 

She said there was "no getting away" from the fact Scotland faces a "significant challenges" in tackling coronavirus.

Answering questions at Holyrood, the First Minister said the scientific evidence "tells us that cancelling mass gatherings will not in itself have a significant impact on reducing the spread of the virus".

However, she said the move was important to safeguarding the resilience of police and ambulance services. 

She said: "The view that the Health Secretary and I have come to is that there are wider issues to take account of here. 

"Mass gatherings require to be policed. They require emergency ambulance cover. They require the services of our volunteer health services. 

"At a time when we need to be reducing the pressures on these frontline workers to free them up to focus on the significant challenge that lies ahead I do think it's inappropriate that we continue as normal.

"We are minded now that we will advise the cancellation, from the start of next week, of mass gatherings of 500 people or more and that is principally to protect the resilience of our frontline workers."

Any restictions or other measures "will be in place for potentially a number of weeks", she said.

Asked about school closures, Ms Sturgeon said it was "not the right thing" at the moment. 

She said: "The advice at the moment is that it would not be the right thing to do to close schools and universities at this stage. That is something that will be kept under constant review."