The Scottish Football Association board has suspended professional football beneath SPFL Championship level for three weeks due to the escalating Covid-19 situation.
The Scottish Premiership will be exempt from the suspension, provided it continues to adhere to the stringent testing protocols, and the Championship will also be able to continue provided it commences weekly PCR testing.
The impacted leagues are: SPFL League One, SPFL League Two, Scottish Women's Football Premier Leagues One and Two, Highland League, Lowland League, East, West and South of Scotland Leagues, Scottish Junior FA Leagues and the North Caledonian League.
Three Irish internationals - Niamh Farrelly, Claire Shine and Tyler Toland - play for semi-professional SWPL1 side Glasgow City, who are joint top of the table as they pursue an 11th title in a row.
The Scottish Cup will also be suspended, with any matches due to be played prior to 1 February to be rescheduled.
Rod Petrie, Scottish FA president, said: "The Scottish FA is well aware of the efforts all clubs take to comply with the exacting protocols that were conditional on elite football being given an exemption to continue amid the pandemic.
"Nonetheless the continuation of football at all levels has weighed increasingly heavy on me as president, my colleagues on the board and the Joint Response Group as we have watched the new strain of the virus spread rapidly.
"While the national sport has been afforded the privilege of elite sporting exemption, the risk of mass transportation of untested, largely part-time players is something that cannot be sustained as the cases continue to rise and available hospital beds become increasingly scarce."
Petrie added: "After discussions with the SPFL, the Premiership and Championship will continue on the proviso that both adhere to the existing testing regime.
"The vast majority of teams in those divisions are full-time professional clubs and so the risk of transmission remains manageably low.
"The cost implications to lower-division clubs was one factor but so too the realisation that many - with some notable exceptions - consist of part-time players who are either prevented from working due to the virus or have to work.
"In either case, the risk is currently too great amid the developing nationwide spread of the virus."
Shortly after the announcement, it emerged that Celtic's Christopher Jullien has tested positive for Covid-19 and that Celtic manager Neil Lennon, assistant John Kennedy and 13 first-team players will be required to self-isolate on a precautionary basis.
