People take photos with Christmas holiday decorations in Taipei on Dec 20, 2020. (CHIANG YING-YING / AP)

BEIJING - The first locally transmitted case of COVID-19 in eight months was reported in Taiwan, ending what was the world’s longest stretch without a domestic infection and providing a reminder of the virus’s ability to outfox even the most successful efforts to contain it.

A 30-year-old woman was confirmed to have caught COVID-19 in Taiwan, "health minister" Chen Shih-chung said at a briefing in Taipei Tuesday. 

Taiwan's last infection within the community was on April 12

While it has seen cases in travelers arriving from outside, the island's last infection within the community was April 12.

The woman came into repeated contact between Dec 7 and Dec 12 with a pilot from New Zealand who had caught COVID-19 in the US before traveling to Taiwan, according to Chen. The government will fine the Eva Airways Corp pilot up to NT$300,000 (US$10,000) for failure to report details of his close contacts and steps.

Health officials have identified 167 other people the newest case came into contact with before she was isolated, the Centers for Disease Control said in a statement. The patient is an employee of an affiliate of Quanta Computer Inc, which said it has tightened virus-control measures and asked close contacts of the employee to quarantine at home.

Police tracked down the latest case after investigating all people the pilot came into contact with before testing positive. Two other confirmed cases contracted the virus from the pilot while working with him on a flight from the U.S. to Taiwan on Dec. 15. 

The re-emergence of a local outbreak threatens to derail one of the standout success stories in the global fight against the pandemic. 

Taiwan has managed to keep its tally low through a combination of restricting travel into the island early in the outbreak and implementing a strict quarantine and contact tracing strategy.

15 new cases on mainland

Earlier on Monday, China's National Health Commission said Tuesday that it received reports of 15 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Monday, including 13 imported infections and two locally transmitted ones.

The two local cases were reported in Liaoning province, the commission said in its daily report.

Of the new imported cases, six were posted in Shanghai, three in Guangdong, and two each in Inner Mongolia and Sichuan, the National Health Commission said

Of the new imported cases, six were posted in Shanghai, three in Guangdong, and two each in Inner Mongolia and Sichuan, the commission said.

No new suspected cases or additional deaths related to the disease were reported.

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Nine more patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery, the commission said, adding that there were 324 patients still receiving treatment.

By the end of Monday, a total of 4,149 imported cases had been reported on the mainland. Among them, 3,864 had been discharged from hospitals following recovery, and 285 remained hospitalized. No deaths had been reported among the imported cases.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland reached 86,867 by Monday, including 81,909 recoveries and 4,634 deaths, according to the commission.

As of Monday, there was one suspected case on the mainland, and 7,850 close contacts remained under medical observation.

Monday also saw 17 newly reported asymptomatic cases on the mainland. On the same day, two asymptomatic cases were re-categorized as confirmed ones.

A total of 214 asymptomatic cases were under medical observation, out of which 182 were imported cases, the commission said.

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By the end of Monday, 8,237 confirmed cases, including 131 deaths, had been reported in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), while 46 confirmed cases had been reported in Macao SAR, and 766 cases, including seven deaths, in Taiwan.

Altogether, 6,910 patients in Hong Kong SAR, 46 in Macao SAR and 627 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospitals.

With Bloomberg inputs