California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday that the state had significantly reduced a testing backlog even as he announced new collaborations to improve coronavirus testing capacity and infrastructure.

"The testing space has been a challenging one for us and I own that," he said. "And I have a responsibility as your governor to do better and to do more testing in the state of California."

Stephen Bruner, better known as Thundercat, is one of the music industry's most eclectic and prolific collaborators. Over the past five years, the virtuosic bass player has worked with everyone from Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar to Michael McDonald. His latest album, It Is What It Is, was released on Friday and it features the same expansive range of genres and styles.

Just over two months after Kobe Bryant's death shocked the world, his career has received his sport's highest honor: The Los Angeles Laker legend headlined the list of players selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced On Saturday that the state has now lost nearly 100 more lives to the coronavirus pandemic than it did to the September 11 attacks.

In a briefing on the state's response to the crisis, the governor announced that 846 residents have died from the coronavirus, up 200 from Friday. Murphy also said there were 4,331 new cases in the state, bringing the total above 34,000.

"This pandemic is writing one of the greatest tragedies in our state's history," Murphy said.

New York, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, is scrambling to obtain ventilators wherever it can find them. The state ordered 17,000 of the lifesaving devices from the federal government, but "that order never came through," Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters at a news conference Saturday.

As the coronavirus rattles the globe, governments and aid organizations everywhere find themselves in a race to acquire scarce medical supplies and protective equipment — but some say the United States isn't playing fair.

Earlier this week, officials in both Germany and France accused the U.S. of diverting medical supplies meant for their respective countries by outbidding the original buyers.

Conspiracy theories tying 5G networks to the coronavirus pandemic are troubling telecom authorities in the United Kingdom and are being cited as possible motivation for multiple cellphone tower fires this week.

Updated at 8:23 p.m. ET

In a grim assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump on Saturday predicted that the coming week would be "one of the toughest weeks" of the outbreak. At the same time, the president expressed frustration with the toll social distancing measures are taking on the economy, saying "we cannot let this continue."

With data projecting cases in several regions hitting their peaks within seven days, the president told reporters that the United States could see its deadliest week since the coronavirus outbreak began.