Updated April 11, 2020 15:08:27

Photo: Northern Territory Police and health officers conduct spot checks during the coronavirus pandemic. (ABC: Alan Dowler)

Nine people breached COVID-19 quarantine and physical distancing rules over the last 48 hours in the NT, including going to house parties, leading to an exasperated senior police officer calling on Territorians to "stay at home and eat chocolate".

It comes as the NT enters its sixth day without a confirmed new case of COVID-19.

The nine infringement cases included one 32-year-old woman who escaped mandatory quarantine at a Darwin Hotel on Thursday night.

The NT's Deputy Police Commissioner, Murray Smalpage, said reckless behaviour could endanger lives, even if it was a very small proportion of the community.

"There's a high degree of expectation that people play by the rules. The compliance measures are just validating that people are doing the right thing and people by and large are doing the right thing," he said.

Mr Smalpage said police issued an infringement notice to the woman after she absconded from mandatory quarantine after arriving in the NT from Adelaide on April 7.

"We don't have a police officer or security officer at every door. At every place of self-isolation," he said.

In another case, a 22-year-old man in Araluen breached quarantine by leaving his house to register his new vehicle at a registry.

The remaining six cases were connected to mass gatherings, including a large party in Tennant Creek, which led to five fines.

In Jabiru, a large gathering of about 20 people was broken up by police around 9:00pm, during which a 63-year-old woman became aggressive and was fined for not following police orders.

NT Police has now carried out 3,892 compliance checks, and issued 18 fines.

Mr Smalpage said police were being helped after a spike in the number of people calling in suspected wrongdoers.

"We have seen a spike in dob-ins from the community over the last two weeks and we have a number of those that are active investigations," he said.

"Please stay at home, eat chocolate, do something else other than mass gatherings."

Breaking down the latest news and research to understand how the world is living through an epidemic, this is the ABC's Coronacast podcast.

'We can't be complacent'

The infringement cases come as the NT enters its sixth day without new cases of COVID-19, and Health Minister Natasha Fyles said while the news was encouraging, now was not a time to be complacent.

"We are seeing people doing the wrong thing, you're putting our community at risk and it's not worth it," she said.

"It's a small sacrifice to pay to keep people safe.

"Stay at home, you will save lives. We can't become complacent."

The Health Minister said of the 28 confirmed cases in the NT, two had recovered while six had been transferred from the Royal Darwin Hospital to a specialised centre at Howard Springs for mild cases.

"People at Howard Springs have been enjoying their time, with private bathrooms and so on," Ms Fyles said.

"The facilities are a lot more comfortable than one would normally experience at a hospital."

Ms Fyles said the NT Government was also looking at flying in specialised medical supplies for cancer treatment, including isotopes, from Sydney, because of flight restrictions at its usual supplier in Adelaide.

Topics: health, diseases-and-disorders, covid-19, government-and-politics, darwin-0800, nt, katherine-0850, tennant-creek-0860, alice-springs-0870

First posted April 11, 2020 11:56:34