(Reuters) - Taiwan’s tourism department on Wednesday cancelled an annual New Year celebration at the northeastern tip of the island, the Xinhua news agency reported, after a report of the first locally transmitted COVID-19 case since April 12. The tourism department is also considering banning other mass gatherings at tourist sites, Xinhua said. bit.ly/2Kmhnwn Taiwan has kept the pandemic well under control thanks to early and effective prevention methods and widespread use of masks, with all new cases for more than the last 250 days among travellers arriving on the island. But the government was jolted into action by Tuesday’s announcement of the domestic infection of a woman who is a friend of a New Zealand pilot confirmed to have been infected this week after flying routes to the United States Taiwan has so far reported a total of 777 cases - mostly imported - and seven deaths. Around 130 people remain in hospital for treatment.