South Africa's Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, was on Monday admitted into hospital with COVID-19, the presidency said.

Mantashe and his wife Nolwandle Mantashe tested positive for COVID-19 last week, and were placed to self-quarantine.

"We will continue to give the Mantashe family all the support they need during this time. We wish both Minister and Mrs Mantashe a speedy recovery from this invisible enemy and we are quite confident that they will emerge victorious against the coronavirus," the presidency said in a statement.

South Africa remains the worst affected country in the continent by the health crisis, having reported the highest number of cases.

It's 364,328 infections are more than four times the number of cases reported by Egypt, the country with the second-most infections in Africa.

South Africa has also reported the most deaths at 5,033.