Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on Thursday reported a locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 case at a designated hospital for such patients.

The patient is a clinical pathologist in the isolated ward of the Xi'an No. 8 Hospital who was mainly responsible for nucleic acid sample collection and laboratory testing, according to the provincial health commission.

The case, which tested negative for COVID-19 on March 3 and entered the ward the next day, has been working and living in isolation with no contact with the outside world, said the commission.

The patient developed symptoms of headache and fever on March 17 and two nucleic acid tests by the provincial and municipal centers for disease control and prevention turned out to be positive.

The patient was diagnosed as a confirmed COVID-19 case early Thursday morning and is currently under treatment in isolation in the hospital, it said.

A team of medical experts sent by the provincial and municipal health authorities initially believed that the disease was caused by accidental exposure to the novel coronavirus in the isolated ward.

There are eight imported confirmed COVID-19 cases and five imported asymptomatic cases under treatment and medical observation in the hospital.

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