New York's daily virus death toll falls below 100: governor

The number of deaths in New York state caused by the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours has fallen to 84, the lowest one-day total since late March, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.

"The news is good news," with the lowest toll since March 24, Cuomo said in his daily televised briefing. Hospitalizations, intubations and new infections were all in decline, he added.

"In my head, I was always looking to get under 100," Cuomo said, speaking from the governor's mansion in Albany.

"It doesn't do good for any of those 84 families that are feeling the pain," he added, "but for me it's just a sign we are making real progress" in what had been the hardest-hit US state.

At the pandemic's peak in New York in early April, the authorities were reporting more than 1 000 deaths a day.

UK govt defends top adviser over lockdown 'breach'

The British government on Saturday rejected calls to sack top adviser Dominic Cummings over allegations he broke coronavirus lockdown rules by travelling across the country while displaying symptoms of the disease.

Cummings, who announced he was suffering from coronavirus symptoms on March 30, was seen with his young son close to his parents' home in Durham, northeastern England, more than 250 miles (400 kilometres) away from his London home on March 31.

Under lockdown rules brought in on March 23, anyone with symptoms must self-isolate in their own homes. And people aged over 70 -- as Cummings' parents are - are not allowed to receive visitors.

Britain's opposition Labour party said his actions suggested Cummings viewed himself as above the law.

"The public have made extraordinary sacrifices during this pandemic and the lockdown. It cannot be one rule for those who set them and another for the British people," Labour leader Keir Starmer said.

Thousands rally against Spain virus response, urge PM to quit

Thousands of Spaniards answered a call on Saturday from far-right party Vox to protest against lockdown measures and the increasingly beleaguered government of leftist Pedro Sanchez.

Motorists thronged the roads of central Madrid, tooting their horns as others held placards and shouted "Sanchez, resign" and "freedom".

Vox called demonstrations in dozens of cities with its leader Santiago Abascal alleging the government "has been incapable of protecting its people, its elderly and its careworkers" during the coronavirus crisis.

The pandemic has killed 28,600 in Spain to date, one of the world's highest tolls.