Chris Hipkins says Aucklanders should prepare for lockdown extension

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says Aucklanders should "be preparing to be at home for a bit longer".

Appearing on Q+A with Jack Tame, Hipkins didn't have any overnight case numbers to share, after there were 21 new Covid cases yesterday.

There are 51 people infected in our first Delta outbreak.

He said it was likely the Level 4 lockdown, which is due to end at Tuesday night, will be extended in Auckland at least.

"At the moment, I still don't know what's likely to happen in Wellington we've still got a relatively low number of locations of interest there, at least one of our cases basically didn't go anywhere in Wellington," he said.

"Still a question mark there."

"In Auckland we are still picking up significant numbers of cases, significant numbers of locations of interest. If I was an Aucklander I would certainly be preparing to be at home for a bit longer."

He said an alert level split between regions was possible, provided there weren't cases.

"It's likely at some point there will be some differentiation around the country if we don't see spread into other parts of the country."