The Northern Territory has recorded no new cases of COVID-19 overnight after nine new cases emerged late yesterday, Chief Minister Michael Gunner says.

On Saturday night the NT government announced the nine new cases in the Binjari community on the outskirts of Katherine.

Binjari and the nearby Rockhole community were immediately sent into a "hard" lockdown following the announcement of the cases.

Under a hard lockdown residents are only able to leave their homes and yards for medical treatment or in an emergency, according to the NT government.

At a press conference today Mr Gunner said the hard lockdown measures were appropriate because the "threat to lives is extreme" in the communities.

He said the federal government had offered to deploy 20 ADF personnel, as well as army trucks, to assist with the unfolding situation in the Northern Territory.

The trucks, Mr Gunner said, would help the transfer of positive cases and close contacts and "to support the communities".

"I contacted the Prime Minister last night. We are grateful for the support," Mr Gunner said.

"We are doing an assessment today of what extra resources we might need from the [federal government] and the Prime Minister is ready to help further."

Mr Gunner said more NT Health resources were deployed to Binjari and Rockhole last night to help implement the hard lockdown, begin contact tracing work and provide food and other essential items to residents.

"The effort undertaken by our teams last night and the cooperation of Binjari and Rockhole communities was nothing short of phenomenal," he said.

Mr Gunner said the NT government was expected to keep Binjari and Rockhole in some form of lockdown "for the next few weeks".

He said the nine Binjari cases came from six different households and the vaccination status of those infected was not known.

One case, a 78-year-old woman, was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital on Saturday night.

Mr Gunner said the other eight cases had all been transported to Howard Springs overnight for monitoring and care.

Some of those, he said, had existing health conditions.

Mr Gunner again pleaded with Territorians, but "particularly, Aboriginal Territorians, given our current outbreak", to get vaccinated.

"It is too late for the vaccine when you've got COVID. It is too late when you're in hospital struggling to breathe," he said.

"Once you catch the virus, it is too late.

"We need you to get the vaccine now before you catch the virus, so you can stay safe, stay healthy, stay alive."

He said authorities had identified 38 close contacts in Binjari — a number he said was likely to rise — who are being transported to Howard Springs today.

Mr Gunner said the cases in Binjari were "very concerning but not surprising" after COVID-19 fragments were detected in the community on Friday.

Cases in the community, and possibly in Rockhole, could increase by "a lot" in coming days, Mr Gunner said, due to high levels of movement within and between communities.

"These communities have very strong personal and family connections," he said.

The total number of cases in the current outbreak, which has seen cases reported in Greater Darwin, Greater Katherine and Robinson River, sits at 35.

The Greater Katherine area and remote community of Robinson River are in lockdowns currently due to lift at 6pm Monday.

So far, the total number of close contacts related to the outbreak is 385, 11 of whom are yet to be located, and 350 have returned negative results, Mr Gunner said.

Authorities have identified five new close contacts in Borroloola, a large remote community around 120 kilometres west of Robinson River, Mr Gunner added. He said all have returned negative tests.

There were 3,005 tests processed in the Northern Territory in 24 hours, Mr Gunner said.

New mask mandate due to spread risk

Mr Gunner said there was a "real risk" the virus had seeded to other connected communities around the outbreak region "based on the level of movement that has been happening in some communities".

Today the Chief Minister announced a mask mandate for communities in the West Daly and Roper Gulf local government areas, a measure he said was necessary because of the risk of spread between communities.

The new mask mandate takes in the communities of Borroloola, Barunga, Beswick, Daly Waters, Mataranka, Pine Creek, Miniyeri, Ngukurr, Numbulwar, Yarralin and Kalkarindji.

Wastewater indicates more Katherine cases

Mr Gunner said positive wastewater was still being detected in the Bicentennial Road catchment in Katherine.

That catchment sits around Acacia Drive, MacFarlane Primary School, the police station, the industrial area, and the Walpiri town camp, he said.

The result was concerning, he said, given positive cases detected earlier in the outbreak had recently been in quarantine away from the area.

He said the wastewater result indicated it was likely "there is still a positive case or cases in that part of Katherine" who have not come forward for testing.

"There has been an emergency text message alert sent to residents in that area this morning calling for them to get tested," he said.

"We are sending more resources to the Katherine East pop-up testing clinic today and we will be doing door-to-door testing in Walpiri."

The 11 other catchment areas in Katherine have returned negative wastewater results, he said.

Yesterday Mr Gunner announced a "weak" positive wastewater result had been returned in the catchment of Marlow Lagoon, an outer-western suburb of Palmerston.

Today he said further wastewater testing of that catchment areas had come back negative.

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