It came just days after the country, the worst hit in Africa, reported a new, faster spreading variant of the virus.

這是在非洲受災最嚴重的國家報告了一種新的、傳播速度更快的病毒變種後幾天發生的。

Several hospitals have reported wards overflowing with patients, while many health workers have canceled vacations to tackle a huge influx of patients.

有幾家醫院報告說，病房裡擠滿了病人，而許多衛生工作者也取消了休假，以應對大量湧入的病人。

The new variant is referred to as 501 V two.

新的變體被稱為501 V兩。

Scientists tracking it say it appears to be focused in the south and southeast of the country.

追蹤它的科學家說，它似乎集中在該國的南部和東南部。

They also said it had dominated findings from samples collected since October.

他們還說，從10月以來收集的樣本中，它已經佔據了主導地位。

Local media reported.

當地媒體報道。

Authorities met on Sunday to decide if a tighter locked down or stricter rules on public movement was needed.

當局在週日召開會議，決定是否需要更嚴格的鎖定或更嚴格的公共行動規則。

The point of concern is that it took just nine days for South Africa to go from 900,000 reported cases, up to one million.

值得關注的是，南非從90萬例報告病例，上升到100萬例，只用了9天時間。