Taiwan bars arrivals from India as Indonesia reports first cases of Indian Covid-19 variant

– A + A TAIPEI/JAKARTA (May 3): Taiwan became the latest place to ban arrivals from coronavirus-stricken India on Monday, as it moves to prevent new infections, with more nations reporting cases of a variant first identified in the subcontinent. The variant, B.1.617, has reached at least 17 countries, from Britain and Iran to Switzerland, sparking global concern and spurring several to close their borders to people travelling from India. Scientists are studying whether the variant, resulting from two key mutations to the outer “spike” portion of the virus that attaches to human cells, is driving an unexpected explosion in…