Community-run Covid-19 checkpoints will be operating in Northland from Thursday, without police support.

Te Tai Tokerau is expecting an influx of Aucklanders ahead of the long weekend, and some people are nervous after a local woman tested positive for the South Africa strain of Covid-19 after being released from managed isolation in Auckland.

She caught it from another returnee who was also staying at the Pullman Hotel. So far none of the woman's contacts have tested positive, but the Director General of Health says he's not breathing out just yet.

Te Tai Tokerau Border Control operated Northland checkpoints during last year's Covid-19 outbreak.

And spokesman Hone Harawira believes they're needed again, but he says the police won't help.