Coronavirus news – live: Covid laws extended until end of September as NHS England lowers emergency level

National Express will be back on Britain's roads from Monday when England's "stay at home" rule ends.

This follows an 11-week suspension due to coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

The firm will initially run a limited timetable of 20 routes, which is equivalent to around 15% of its standard intercity network.

But services will be "expanded quickly" as pandemic rules are further relaxed and demand for travel grows, National Express said.

The UK's carbon dioxide emissions fell by more than a 10th last year, as lockdown saw roads empty and businesses close, official figures suggest.

Provisional figures from the Business Department (Beis) show that overall greenhouse gases fell 8.9 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019 and carbon dioxide, which makes up the lion's share of emissions, was down 10.7 per cent year-on-year.

The large fall in 2020 was primarily down to a major reduction in the use of road transport and falls in business activity during the nationwide lockdowns to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

There have been a further 227 cases of coronavirus in Wales, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 208,504.

Public Health Wales reported four further deaths, taking the total in the country since the start of the pandemic to 5,495.

Boris Johnson has said it may not be feasible to implement coronavirus health certificates until everyone has been offered a vaccine, as publicans criticised his plans.

The prime minister said the government's review into their possible use will be published in early April, and suggested they could also be based on whether individuals have developed antibodies through infection, as well as vaccination and negative tests.

But landlords rejected their use after his earlier suggestion it could be up to them to decide whether to screen customers' certificates on entry, ahead of fresh details emerging of a possible incentive for pubs to adopt the measure.

The boss of the Shepherd Neame chain said making jabs mandatory for entry to pubs is a "fairly poorly thought-out idea", as trade bodies suggested the idea was "simply unworkable".

There is not enough evidence to support removing face masks in classrooms after Easter, the leader of the UK's largest teaching union has said.

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said face coverings should remain in secondary schools "until the science says that it's safe to remove them".

His comments came after millions of pupils returned to school in England.

Secondary school pupils are being advised to wear face coverings wherever social distancing cannot be maintained, including in class, but the government has said the measure will be reviewed at Easter.

Boris Johnson has claimed "that's obviously not what I said" when he was questioned about reports he told Tory MPs that the vaccine success was because of capitalism and "greed, my friends".

The prime minister said he stressed the part played by the businesses in making the project a success.

He told reporters it was partly due to the role of government but "was also thanks to free enterprise and big companies deciding to take a risk to put their investment into bets that they didn't know would pay off, which is what capitalism is basically all about, and producing a life-changing result".

"So it's the combination that matters."

Boris Johnson says his “no jab no pint” suggestion would only allow pubs to bar drinkers when “absolutely everybody” has been offered a vaccine – if at all.

Hospitality industry leaders have roundly condemned Boris Johnson’s proposal that pubs could refuse to customers who cannot prove they have been vaccinated, branding the idea “simply unworkable” and warning it would “almost certainly result in breaches of equality rules”, Clea Skopeliti reports.

ScotRail has announced it will give an extra year’s membership to passengers who belong to its “Club 50” discount scheme, travel correspondent Simon Calder reports.

The move is in sharp contrast to the UK government’s refusal to extend the validity of railcards.

More than half of Israelis have received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, the health minister has announced - a world-beating move that has helped the country emerge from the pandemic.

In a statement announcing the milestone amid a sustained drop in new Covid-19 cases, the health minister, Yuli Edelstein, called on citizens "to follow (health) guidelines so that the coronavirus does not return".

He said 50.07 per cent of the overall population had received both vaccine doses, and 55.96 per cent the first dose.

Israel issues the fully vaccinated, and those from around 8.7 per cent of its population who have recovered from Covid-19 with presumed immunity, so-called "Green Pass" certificates that offer access to various leisure venues.