South Africa will go into lockdown for three weeks from midnight on Thursday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday night that the National Command Council on the coronavirus said this was a necessary step to contain the spread of the global pandemic.

South Africans would have to "stay at home" until midnight on April 16.

"This is a decisive measure to save the lives of South Africans from infection and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of our people. While these measures will have a considerable impact on people's livelihoods, on the life of our society and on our economy, the human cost of delaying this action would be far, far greater," said the president.

"The nationwide lockdown will be enacted in terms of the Disaster Management Act, and will entail the following: from midnight on Thursday March 26 until midnight on Thursday April 16, all South Africans will have to stay at home."