TAIPEI -- Taiwan on Monday reported 51 new COVID-19 cases, among which 15 are local infections and 36 are imported, the island's disease monitoring agency told a press briefing.

Among the local cases, eight were reported in the city of Kaohsiung, four in Yilan county and three in Taoyuan city, the agency said.

In light of the recent rise in local infections, the disease monitoring agency has announced a two-week extension of the current Level-2 COVID-19 alert to Feb 7.

Stringent anti-epidemic rules have also been announced. Starting Monday, visits to hospitalized patients or people in long-term residential care facilities will be banned unless for emergency.

To date, Taiwan has confirmed 18,376 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 14,918 locally-transmitted infections.