By Ben Westcott, Brett McKeehan, Laura Smith-Spark, Fernando Alfonso III and Amir Vera, CNN
From CNN's Sheena Jones
At least five regions in upstate New York have entered phase two as of Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during his Covid-19 news briefing Saturday.
Next week, the capital region and western New York will end 14 days of being in phase one and will have to make a decision if they will move to phase two of the reopening, the governor said.
"We made that decision by reviewing the data and the numbers," Cuomo said.
From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was asked to what extent he expects a rise in Covid-19 cases as a result of the demonstrations and large gatherings around the city.
“I would still wish that everyone would realize that when people gather it's inherently dangerous in the context of this pandemic and I’m going to keep urging people not to use that approach and if they do they focus on social distancing and wearing face coverings," de Blasio said in a news briefing today.
De Blasio said “you cannot see overt racism, you cannot see overt racist murder and not feel something profoundly deep, so I understand that."
"But the last thing we would want to see is members of our community harmed because the virus spread in one of these settings," de Blasio said. “It’s a very very complicated reality."
From CNN's Elise Hammond
At least 67 people in New York state have died from coronavirus on Friday – the same number as the day before.
"Overall, that has been tremendous, tremendous progress from where we were," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference on Saturday.
The number of total hospitalizations, new hospitalizations and intubations have all decreased, Cuomo said.
"That is all good news," he said.
From CNN's Eva Tapiero and Zahid Mahmood
The number of coronavirus patients hospitalized in France continues to decline, according to figures released by the French Health Ministry on Saturday.
There are currently 14,380 hospital patients with the virus, a decrease of 315 from Friday, the ministry said.
The statement said the number of Covid-19 hospital deaths has risen by 57 from Friday.
France has reported 28,717 coronavirus-related deaths in total, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.
From CNN’s Sarah Dean
At least 215 people died from coronavirus in the United Kingdom in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to approximately 38,376, according to UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden.
Dowden, speaking at the daily Downing Street press conference on Saturday, said roughly 127,722 tests were carried out on Friday.
From CNN's Kristen Holmes
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will resume its regular briefings as the administration continues its coronavirus response, CNN has learned.
The CDC held a briefing Friday in which director Robert Redfield said the agency was "never blind" to the early spread of the coronavirus in the United States.
That session was the first of the resumption of the regular press briefings, a senior Health and Human Services official told CNN.
Some context: The last of the regular briefings was on March 9. That is a short time after a top CDC official, Dr. Nancy Messonier, the agency’s director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, surprised the Trump administration by predicting the coronavirus would be spreading more rapidly at a time when the White House was downplaying the seriousness of it.
Her comments sent the stock market tumbling and in turn, angered President Trump.
The move comes as the White House has been under fire recently for sidelining the administration’s health experts on its own coronavirus task force. The doctors, including Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci, have appeared less and less as the country begins to reopen, despite fears of a potential resurgence.
From CNN's Helena de Moura and Laura Pérez Maestro
The Spanish government said Saturday that it would further relax coronavirus restrictions in certain areas from Monday.
Four islands will lead the way by embarking on phase 3 of the government's de-escalation plan, the government said. They are La Gomera, El Hierro and La Graciosa, in the Canaries, and Formentera, in the Balearic islands -- all well-known tourist destinations in Spain.
Phase 3 seeks to allow a transition into relatively normal activities, including attending cinemas, theaters, restaurants and circuses, as long as establishments limit capacity. People may sit by the bar and there won’t be time restrictions by age group any more.
However, most of the islands in both archipelagos will remain on phase 2, together with 70% of mainland Spain, which is expected to remain on phase 2 until June 8.
Some relaxation of measures was announced Saturday for those regions under phase 2: indoor sporting venues are allowed to open at very limited capacity with rigorous hygiene protocols. Swimming pools may open at very limited capacity, with a two-meter requirement between swimmers.
The government also offered some respite for a number of regions still under phase 1, including capital city Madrid. Residents will be allowed visits to parks and restricted indoor sports activities. Open-air terraces are also allowed to reopen but not at full capacity.
From CNN's Nada Bashir
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has urged citizens to “act with caution” as the UK government prepares to ease lockdown measures on Monday.
“I am deeply concerned we are now rushing too fast to lift lockdown measures,” Khan tweeted Saturday.
“The Joint Biosecurity Centre has said we’re not ready to move from Level 4 to 3, and the 5 tests are not met. I urge Londoners to act with caution -- lives depend on it,” he said.
Earlier on Saturday, members of the scientific advisory board to the UK government -- SAGE -- warned that a premature easing of the coronavirus lockdown could lead to a “significant” number of new cases and deaths across the country.
Speaking to Sky News on Saturday, SAGE adviser and epidemiologist Professor John Edmunds said that the easing of the lockdown would be “risky” and warned that a relaxation of containment measures could lead to some 8,000 new cases of coronavirus every day.
“Significant numbers of cases, unfortunately, means we will get deaths,” he said.
##Lockdowns#
From CNN's Nadine Schmidt in Berlin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel “cannot confirm” that she will attend a possible G7 summit of world leaders in Washington amid the coronavirus pandemic, a spokesperson at the Chancellery said Saturday.
US President Donald Trump has said the summit could be held in Washington in late June.
“The Chancellor thanks President Trump for his invitation to the G7 summit in Washington at the end of June,” Merkel’s spokesperson said in a statement.
“As of today, given the overall pandemic situation, she cannot confirm her personal participation, that is, a trip to Washington,” the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Health Minister, Jens Spahn, expressed his “disappointment” over the United States' withdrawal from the World Health Organization, saying that the decision taken by the Trump administration was a “setback” for international health policy.
Some context: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday he could not yet commit to attending the proposed G7 meeting in person because of concerns over transmission of the virus and Canada's quarantine rules.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Trump on Thursday. The two leaders "agreed on the importance of convening the G7 in person in the near future," according to a White House readout of the call. But the White House did not say whether Macron had committed to attending in person.