The Northern Territory has detected four new COVID-19 cases in the community as an outbreak spreads towards the Western Australian border.

One of the infections is linked to a cluster in the town of Katherine, 320km south of Darwin.

The other three cases are unconfirmed, but Health Minister Natasha Fyles said they are very likely to be genuine infections due to the close contacts.

Two of those are in Timber Creek near the WA border, 225km east of Kununurra, and the other one is in Kalkarindji, 550km south of Darwin.

“Today’s case numbers are nowhere near as high as yesterday but we do expect more cases in the coming days,” Ms Fyles told reporters on Tuesday.

It brings the current outbreak to 88 cases but that is expected to rise to 91 later in the day once the three infections are confirmed.

People in Timber Creek have been ordered to wear a face mask in most public places until 2pm on Friday as a rapid response team prepares to travel to the town.

It comes after an infected Binjari man visited the town before testing positive to the virus on Monday.

Kalkarindji already has a mask mandate in place, which finishes at the same time.

“We are less concerned about the Kalkarindji case. The individual is a woman that we are advised is double vaccinated and her infectivity is low,” Ms Fyles said.

A lockout in the Aboriginal community of Beswick, 425km southeast of Darwin, will end at 2 pm Tuesday but masks will need to be worn until the same time on Friday.

The mask order is also in place in the nearby Barunga Aboriginal community, Katherine and the town of Tennant Creek, 990km south of Darwin.

One new case was detected at The Centre of National Resilience quarantine facility after a traveller returned to Australia from South Africa.

Authorities have also confirmed that another traveller who flew from Nigeria to Darwin via Sydney is infected with Omicron.

– AAP