"You cannot enter public transport without wearing a mask. The drivers must make sure that everyone who enters their transport wears a mask. But us as passengers must also make sure that nobody comes into the taxi we are in without a mask," she said.

Speaking on new regulations on Covid-19 gazetted on Sunday, the minister stressed that masks were mandatory henceforth, and said it was the responsibility of all of society to wear them. 

"It must be a collective responsibility to ensure that everybody does wear a mask, not only in transport but in every building," she said.

"You must be your brother and your sister's keeper ... that means you must have an interest in the well-being of everybody else."

Dlamini-Zuma said the renewed ban on alcohol sales was in part motivated by the fact that it "becomes difficult" for people to continue wearing masks when they are drinking in groups.

She said all social gatherings remained prohibited because these created the risk of people not adhering to the rules of physical distancing.

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday announced the reintroduction of the ban on alcohol sales and a night-time curfew as part of measures to contain transmission of Covid-19, which has now infected more than 276,000 people in South Africa.

Ramaphosa resisted calls to take the country back into hard lockdown, saying the impact on the economy would be devastating, and yielded to pressure from the minibus taxi sector to allow operators to carry full passenger volumes.

African News Agency (ANA)