Coronavirus: 695 returning travellers who left managed isolation yet to undergo COVID-19 tests

There are still 695 people needing to take a COVID-19 test after leaving managed isolation facilities in early to mid-June.

Between June 9-16, 2159 people left quarantine facilities. Of these, 1184 were contacted and tested negative for the virus.

Eight-hundred were tested before leaving and 384 tested after their departure from isolation, the Ministry of Health confirmed on Thursday.

A further 143 have been referred for tests and are awaiting results, and the ministry is still in the process of contacting 695 people so they can be tested. Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said of the 695 people, 168 had invalid contact numbers and are being referred to finding services.

"They get a text first and then a number of phone calls. So it is very clear who the call is coming from and we are very keen that those people actually pick up the call," he said.

The final 137 people aren't taking a test for various reasons. Some weren't tested for medical reasons or they are children, and 68 of these people have refused a test.

It was revealed by the ministry on Tuesday that 51 of the 55 people who left managed isolation on compassionate exemption grounds weren't testing before departing. Forty people have now tested negative and 11 aren't being tested for medical reasons or they're children. Dr Bloomfield said two are still waiting for their results.

Five returning travellers who were in managed isolation at Auckland's Novotel Ellerslie at the same time as the two sisters from the UK - who left under compassionate exemptions and later tested positive - are yet to be tested. There were 190 guests at the hotel during the time the pair were there.

Dr Bloomfield said these two women are now considered recovered.

It comes as the ministry announced three new COVID-19 cases in New Zealand, all of which were found during routine testing in managed isolation.

The first is a woman in her 30s who returned from Peru on June 20. She was initially in managed isolation at the Ibis Hotel in Rotorua, but has since been moved to the Jet Park Hotel in Auckland. All passengers on her bus to Rotorua are being contacted.

The second and third cases are men who arrived on the same flight from New Delhi, India on June 20, and have been staying at the Commodore Hotel at Christchurch Airport. One man is in his 70s and the other is in his 30s.

These new cases bring the total of active infections to 13 and the confirmed case total to 1169.