There are 13 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 to report today (Sunday August 16) – 12 in the community and one in managed isolation.

The 12 new cases in the community all have a connection to the existing South Auckland cluster, are all Auckland based, and none have advised travelling outside of Auckland.

The case in managed isolation is a child who arrived in New Zealand on August 3 from Afghanistan via Dubai. They have been in managed isolation at the Pullman Hotel and tested negative around day three of their stay, then positive around day 12 of their stay.

They have been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.

There are three people receiving hospital-level care for COVID-19. Two are in Auckland City Hospital on a ward, and one person is in Middlemore on a ward. One is the person previously reported as being in hospital, one has been admitted overnight from the Auckland quarantine facility, and one person connected to the community outbreak has also been admitted to hospital.

To date, 66 people linked to the cluster have now been moved into the Auckland quarantine facility, including 29 people who have tested positive for COVID-19.

The 13 new confirmed cases reported today brings the total number of confirmed cases to 1,271 - the number reported to the World Health Organisation.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand is now 69, of which 49 are from the recent community outbreak, and 20 are imported cases in managed isolation and quarantine facilities.

Of the 49 cases in the community outbreak, 46 are linked to the cluster, and three remain under investigation, but are believed to be linked to the same cluster.

The national tracing service has 1,536 close contacts identified; they have contacted 1,322 as at 10am this morning, and those people are all self-isolating. The Ministry of Health is in the process of contacting the remaining close contacts.

If you are called by a member of the contact tracing teams please take or return the call.

The Ministry has also asked all workplaces, churches and other institutions to keep up to date records of their staff, volunteers and members, so health officials can quickly contact anyone from a particular site.

There continues to be unprecedented testing across the country and laboratories have responded well to meet the demand.

Yesterday laboratories processed 23,682 tests for COVID-19, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 571,942.

Because of the high volumes it may take up to 48 hours for swabs to be processed through the labs. All results still need to be reported back through primary care and reported back to the patient which can add to the time for an individual to hear their result.

All parts of this process are currently under pressure and delays may be seen at various points.

Only people who fit the criteria should get tested so that the highest risk swabs are getting processed as quickly as possible. Swabs of close contacts and other high risk people are prioritised and those with positive results are alerted quickly.

PHOTO: Supplied