Residents line up to take nucleic acid test at a community in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei Province, on January 7, 2021. Photo: VCG

An 11-year-old primary school student in Sanyuan county, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province was diagnosed as a suspected COVID-19 patient recently, Shaanxi Health commission said Tuesday.

The girl, surnamed Chen, tested positive for COVID-19 on January 7, after developing a fever and dry cough symptoms on the evening of January 5. However, she later returned negative results in a throat swab nucleic acid test and serum antibody test was conducted later by Shannxi CDC.

The health authority said they are still investigating why her first nucleic acid test returned a positive result.

The girl had not been to any high-risk areas in China or traveled overseas, the authority said. The case is suspected to be related to the recent COVID-19 flare-ups in North China's Hebei Province. One local resident recently returned to the village from Shijiazhuang in Hebei, which was recently hit hard by a resurgence in COVID-19 cases.

Notably, both the girl's parents and the resident returned negative nucleic acid and serum antibody test results.

So far, the local authority has carried out nucleic acid tests on Chen's close contacts and in the areas she visited. A total of 5,334 samples have been collected, all returning negative results.

Shaanxi Province previously reported that nine residents from the province went to Shijiazhuang to attend a wedding on December 28, and came into close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case. The nine finished their 14-day quarantine on Monday and returned negative nucleic acid results.