South Africa's first coronavirus vaccine doses produced by Serum Insititute of India were delivered to the countyry by airplane on Monday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and other top officials were at the OR Tambo international airport to receive the 1 million shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine, produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII), PTI reported.

Ramaphosa said he was delighted the first shots had arrived and that he would say more during an address to the nation scheduled for 1800 GMT.

The shots will be checked over roughly 10 to 14 days before inoculations can begin.

South Africa has recorded the most COVID-19 infections and deaths on the African continent, at more than 1.4 million cases and over 44,000 deaths to date.

Meanwhile, SII is due to send another 500,000 doses later this month, but more will be needed to cover South Africa's 1.25 million health workers, as the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine is administered in two doses, the PTI report said.