Health officials say a visit by an MIQ worker to an Auckland kindergarten before testing positive for Covid-19 poses a "very low risk".
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The worker, a cleaner at the Grand Millennium hotel in Auckland, tested positive to the virus during routine surveillance testing.
Genome sequencing has shown the case closely matches that of a recent returnee who stayed at the MIQ facility, and Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said that ruled out the infection having come from the community. A household contact, who initally tested positive, has had a negative Covid-19 result on retesting, Bloomfield said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said the visit to BestStart kindergarten in St Luke's on 21 March was not considered high risk.
The person spent less than 10 minutes picking up the child, without being in close contact with anyone at the centre, the spokesperson said in a statement.
Auckland Regional Public Health Service staff had thoroughly investigated the visit, talking to the centre management and to the case.
"ARPHS considers that all staff, children and parents there at the time are at very low risk of infection.
"Families and staff received a letter from ARPHS yesterday afternoon providing advice, sent out by the centre," the statement said.
The kindergarten has not been added to the ministry's list of locations of interest for the border worker case.
Only one location has been listed, the Countdown supermarket in Mt Roskill, on Sunday 20 March.
Supermarket closed for deep clean
A separate Countdown supermarket closed yesterday for a deep clean after it was notified a worker had returned a weak positive Covid-19 test.
Countdown general manager health and safety Kiri Hannifin said the Quay Street store was closed as a precaution just before midday "to brief and provide support to our team, undertake a deep clean and wait for further advice".
The Ministry of Health confirmed the supermarket worker was a member of the MIQ cleaner's household. The person had initially returned a weak positive test but retesting had come back negative.
"This initial weak positive PCR result followed by a negative PCR result could indicate an early and fleeting mild infection, that has now passed, or it could be a false positive," a ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
The household member will have further testing but is not considered to be a confirmed case and is unlikely to have infected anyone else.
The precautionary action by the supermarket to temporarily close got cleaning was "acknowledged though it wasn't required by Public Health Services", the ministry said. No action is required by anyone who has used the store recently.
The supermarket has re-opened.