The Coromandel community is cautiously optimistic it may have dodged a Covid-19 bullet - with widespread testing so far revealing no sign of the virus.

The UK Government has released more details of how negotiations are progressing, with Britain's trade secretary saying teams are working around the clock to get the deal done.

A South Island festival organiser says they are scrambling to work out how to enforce mandatory scanning before being inundated with thousands of visitors.

The tentacles of the latest Covid-19 outbreak are continuing to spread right across Auckland and beyond with more than 13,000 contacts and more than 300 locations of interest identified.

Cabinet has decided all of New Zealand will remain in level 4 for an additional four days, until 11.59pm 27 August; Auckland will remain in level 4 until 11.59pm 31 August.

Barriers have gone up at the entrances to many popular parks and beaches in New Plymouth as authorities try to discourage people driving across town to exercise during the level 4 lockdown.

The government says its 'more cautious' approach to the Delta outbreak explains why the number of close contacts has ballooned to more than 13,000.

There are 35 new community cases of Covid-19 ahead of the government's alert level announcement this afternoon.

People are generally complying with the lockdown though a small number of incidents are still cropping up, police say.

Buses, running events and yet more food outlets in Auckland have been added to the Covid-19 locations of interest this afternoon as the list continues to grow.

A Covid-19 modeller expects to see the national lockdown have an impact on new case numbers by the end of the week.

Police have launched a homicide investigation following the death of a man at a house in Ōtāhuhu.

TV3's AM Show host Duncan Garner is leaving the TV channel, effective immediately

Police in Dunedin say it's a small minority causing the majority of lockdown headaches, including one man who ran over a child's bike.

An interpreter who worked for the NZ Defence Force in Afghanistan says time to leave is running out, with reports of the Taliban going door-to-door looking for those who worked with the government.

Coromandel Mayor Sandra Goudie is 'cautiously optimistic' that there's no community transmission in the region, but says it's still too early to tell.

Parents, children and teachers are bracing themselves for more lockdown learning this week, and possibly beyond.

High-risk contact tracing is being managed by doctors and nurses around the country, Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall says, as more tracers are recruited for Auckland.