Overview: International developments summary

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* Germany can start easing restrictions now that a wave of infections with the Omicron variant is subsiding, its health minister said. read more

* Canada is planning to impose emergency measures not used for more than 50 years to cut off funding for truckers responsible for nationwide COVID-19 protests that have gridlocked the nation's capital for weeks. read more

* Washington, D.C. will no longer require people to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter many businesses starting Tuesday, its mayor said, joining a slew of local leaders who are dialling back pandemic restrictions as the Omicron wave ebbs. read more

* Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam ruled out a citywide lockdown, but a surge of infections meant she could not "preclude" the possibility of postponing next month's chief executive election.

* Vietnam's tourism ministry proposed a full reopening of the country to foreign visitors and a lifting of nearly all travel restrictions from March 15, three months earlier than planned. read more

* A major Chinese high-tech industry centre limited some highway access after detecting new COVID-19 cases, while epidemic control measures, including mass testing, affected the local operations of overseas firms such as Robert Bosch GmbH. read more

* Thousands of nurses in Australia's most populous state walked off the job for the first time in nearly a decade to begin a 24-hour strike after talks with the government to plug staff shortages and secure a pay rise failed. read more

* Israel will start offering AstraZeneca's (AZN.L) antibody cocktail Evusheld to people with compromised immune systems who did not get a sufficient antibody boost from vaccines. read more

* Kuwait's cabinet has lifted many COVID-19 restrictions including a ban on foreign travel, a move that will also apply to those who are not vaccinated. read more

* A Chinese mRNA vaccine candidate showed a sharper drop in neutralizing antibody activity against Omicron than against the non-mutated coronavirus in a small study, but a booster readily induced antibody production in animal tests, a research paper said. read more

* Oxford University scientists said they would evaluate the effects of new coronavirus variants on pregnant women and newborns, as well as COVID-19 vaccination effects on complications during pregnancy and after birth. read more  ...