DALIAN -- Dalian, a port city in Northeast China's Liaoning province, reported on Wednesday that two people tested positive for COVID-19 during a routine nucleic acid testing.

The two who returned from North China's Tianjin had tested negative for the virus when they left Tianjin on Jan 8. They had reported negative test results on Monday, but both turned positive during the routine nucleic acid testing on Wednesday morning.

The two are college friends and had been in Jinnan district of Tianjin, a region hit hard by the recent virus resurgence in China, for about six days. They arrived in Dalian on Jan 9 on an overnight train. Close contacts of the two have been put under medical observation and further epidemiological investigation is underway.