There are three new cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand today and for the first time six historical cases are being reported by the Ministry of Health.

The historical cases are made up of one confirmed case dating back to February and five probable historical cases connected to the case also dating back to February.

None of the new community cases are connected to the Auckland August community cluster.

Today's three new community cases are a family group linked to a previously reported Christchurch to Auckland chartered flight. They have been self-isolating over the last three days.

There are 37 people isolating in the Auckland quarantine facility from the community, which includes 17 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and their household contacts.

Three people are in hospital with COVID-19 – one each at Auckland City, Middlemore and North Shore hospitals. All three patients are in isolation on a general ward.

"Since August 11, the contact tracing team has identified 4,014 close contacts of cases, of which 4,006 have been contacted and are self-isolating or have completed self-isolation. The ministry is in the process of contacting the rest," says a statement from the ministry.

There are three additional previously reported cases now considered to have recovered from COVID-19.

The total number of active cases is 62, of those, 28 are imported cases in managed isolation facilities, and 34 are community cases.

The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is 1,468.

Yesterday laboratories processed 6,938 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 924,637.

Contacts from Auckland flight

The ministry is providing an update on the case of the man who left managed isolation in Christchurch having returned negative tests for COVID-19 and then tested positive in Auckland.

There were 86 people on this charter flight. All have been contacted and are either in the process of being tested or have been tested. 63 have returned a negative test.

In tracing this man's history and how he became infected, one of two remaining cases from his earlier Delhi-Fiji flight has now been sequenced and been shown to be a close match. The second result is still pending, the ministry says.