WATCH: Ramaphosa ends 2020 with another ‘family meeting’

President Cyril Ramaphosa will be addressing the nation at 8pm on Monday following a special Cabinet meeting.

His so-called “family meeting” comes as the country surpassed the 1 million mark in confirmed Covid-19 cases with a new strain of the virus driving most of the new infections.

On Monday, the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) made an urgent appeal to the Muslim community to immediately cease or cancel all social gatherings or events in light of the second wave of Covid-19.

The South African Medical Association (SAMA) also requested government to move back to Level 2 lockdown.

SAMA chairperson, Dr Angelique Coetzee, said hospitals were running on skeleton staff due to the holiday period.

“We could find ourselves in a harder lockdown to help the healthcare system cope and they are not coping currently,” she said.

ALSO WATCH: SA needs to take this seriously – Mkhize on 1 million Covid cases

Minister of Health, Zweli MKhize, said on Monday morning that festive season laxness was contributing to the spread of the virus.

“People are meeting in crowded places, having parties, and forgetting their masks. These are things that worsen the situation.”

He said the situation in the Eastern Cape, which contains two Covid-19 hotspots, had been serious.

“Private hospitals had filled up before the public hospitals. The testing was delaying and the shortage of staff needed to be attended to,” said Mkhize.