JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that the government would impose a nationwide 21-day lockdown from midnight on Thursday to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

South Africa’s coronavirus cases jumped to 402 Monday, up 128 from the day before, continuing worrying exponential growth and making it the country with the most cases in Africa.

In an address to the nation, Ramaphosa said the army would be deployed to assist the police during the lockdown.

South Africans will still be able to leave their homes to buy food, seek medical care and collect social grants, Ramaphosa added.

“While this measure 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,” he warned.

Ramaphosa said health workers, emergency personnel and security services would be among those exempt from the lockdown.

All shops and businesses will be closed except for pharmacies, laboratories, banks, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, supermarkets, petrol stations and healthcare providers.

International travellers who arrived in South Africa after March 9 from “high-risk” countries will be confined to their hotels until they have completed a 14-day period of quarantine.

Ramaphosa said a first phase of the government’s economic response would include assisting businesses in distress and a package of more than 3 billion rand of funding for industrial firms.

The president earlier this month declared a national state of disaster over the coronavirus, imposing travel bans affecting countries like China, Germany, Britain and the United States.

More than half of South Africa’s total coronavirus cases are in Gauteng province, which include Johannesburg, the country’s largest city with 5.7 million people, and the capital, Pretoria, with 2.4 million, according to the figures released by the government health ministry.

South Africa has overtaken Egypt to be become the African country with the highest number of cases. South Africa has not registered a death from the disease.

The majority of cases are from travellers from Europe and other countries, but the number of cases that are locally transmitted is rising.