There are 13 new Covid cases in the community, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says. Twelve are linked to the current cluster and one remains under investigation but is believed to be linked.
It is highly unlikely Americold's Mt Wellington coolstore is the source of the Auckland August community cluster, the director general of health says.
A theory last week suggested freight from an Americold facility in Melbourne caused the cluster, which is now linked to 98 people, all of whomhave been moved into quarantine.
This afternoon, Dr Ashley Bloomfield reiterated Winnall's comments, saying the likelihood of anyone being infected from Americold's surfaces was essentially ruled out.
Contact tracing and testing have not connected any further cases to the man.
The maintenance worker was transferred to the Jet Park Hotel quarantine facility yesterday.
This morning genomic sequencing results revealed a returnee from the US with the same sequence as the maintenance worker stayed at the hotel from July 28 to July 31 before returning a positive test on day three.
The traveller was moved immediately to the Jet Park quarantine facility on July 31, the Ministry of Health reported.
The Americold facility in Mt Wellington. Photo / Greg Bowker
There is no obvious person-to-person connection between the worker and the returnee, investigations are ongoing.
"Initial reviews of CCTV footage and swipe card movements so far show no interaction between the two people including no entry to physical locations occupied by the returnee from the USA," the ministry said.
