A case of Covid-19 has been confirmed in the King Country coastal town of Kāwhia, just south of Raglan on the North Island's West Coast.
Kāwhia is outside of the Waikato Alert Level 3 boundary.
The Ōtorohanga District Council told RNZ about the case - but the Ministry of Health would not confirm it until the 1pm briefing.
Otago University epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker told Māni Dunlop the Alert Level 3 boundary would need to be extended because the chains of transmission were being poorly controlled.