South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the crowd gathered at the Miki Yili Stadium, ahead of the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of Freedom Day, in Makhanda, Eastern Cape Province on April 27, 2019.

South Africa has announced a nationwide lockdown of its 56 million inhabitants for 21 days, enforced by police and the army, in a bid to curtail the spread of coronavirus.

Confirmed cases in the country currently sit at 552, the highest in Africa but much lower than other major economies across Europe and the Americas, with zero deaths recorded so far.

In an address to the nation Monday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered South Africans to stay in their homes, apart from to seek medicine or medical care, buy food and supplies or collect a social grant.

The restrictions run from midnight on Thursday, March 26 until midnight on Thursday, April 16. A host of new international travel restrictions and quarantine measures will also be implemented.

Ramaphosa noted that the number of confirmed cases had increased six fold in South Africa in just eight days, and warned that "this number will continue to rise," before another 150 cases were confirmed on Tuesday morning.

"It is clear from the development of the disease in other countries and from our own modeling that immediate, swift and extraordinary action is required if we are to prevent a human catastrophe of enormous proportions in our country," he said.