Booster shots on the way, says Ramaphosa

"We consider the fact that we encountered previous waves of infection, vaccines were not widely available and far fewer people were vaccinated, this is no longer the case,” he said during a national address on Sunday.

He says only 35% of the adult population is fully vaccinated against coronavirus.

The Ministerial Advisory Committee on Vaccines will recommend the administration of booster shots - starting with older population and more vulnerable people.

The curfew remains in place from midnight to 4am.

 READ: Ramaphosa keeps SA on level 1 lockdown despite Omicron spike

"No more than 750 people may gather indoors and no more than 2000 may gather outdoors. Where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers with appropriate social distancing then no more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used.

“No more than 100 people are permitted at a funeral and night vigils after funeral gatherings and after tears gatherings are not allowed.”

Wearing masks in public is mandatory. The sale of alcohol is still allowed but not during the curfew.

Ramaphosa says they'll be closely monitoring infection rates and hospitalisation admissions and will review the situation in a week's time.

"We will then need to determine whether the existing measures are adequate or whether changes need to be made to the current regulation."

The president praised the group of South African scientists that detected that the new coronavirus variant.

"Over the next few days and weeks as more data becomes available, we will have a better understanding of whether Omicron is transmitted more easily between people, whether it increases the risk of reinfection and whether this variant causes more severe disease.”