Chief executive Russell Simpson told Local Democracy Reporting the DHB would not provide the location because it wanted to maintain the privacy of the cases.
He said they were isolating in the Whanganui District Council region and were not in SIQ (supervised isolation and quarantine).
Asked to narrow down the location further to a city, town, settlement or rural area, the DHB's Engagement Lead Rhonda Morris said it would not do so.
"It is patient confidentiality," she said.
"As advised in the previous email we are respecting the privacy of the people involved. All patients who are treated at our Whanganui DHB deserve privacy. We understand this is a concerning time for our community and can assure them that there are no locations of interest associated to these cases and those involved are being totally compliant and maintain [sic] all the requirements of self isolating."
Morris said the two cases were isolating at home with support and medical supervision and had requested privacy. Both cases were isolating at home when they tested positive, no exposure events had been linked with either of the cases and there were no locations of interest.
The cases are understood to be from the same household and had travelled out of the district before returning to Whanganui city.
Whanganui DHB did not respond when asked why providing a general location was deemed a risk to patient confidentiality.
The Ministry of Health released Whanganui city as the location after being contacted by Local Democracy Reporting.
Meanwhile, an active case has been found in the rural community of Waimiha in the Ruapehu district. The remote and tiny settlement just north of Taumarunui and Ongarue has a high Māori population. The single case was confirmed by the Waikato District Health Board in its daily list of active cases and their locations.
• Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
