May 23 coronavirus news

The US Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission issued warning letters on Thursday to two groups for selling fraudulent products related to Covid-19.

The first, Apollo Holding LLC, was offering “NoronaPak” products, including “cannabidiol (CBD),” derived from the cannabis plant, according to one of the warning letters.

The letter said the products were “intended to mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose, or cure COVID-19 in people” and were unapproved drugs sold in violation of federal law.

Apollo Holding made claims such as “Fight off Coronavirus with NoronaPak,” according to the letter. The group did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

The second letter was issued to North Coast Biologics, which was allegedly offering an “nCoV19 spike protein vaccine.”

On March 21, according to the letter, a person involved with North Coast Biologics bragged about the supposed vaccine on Facebook. “Just vaccinated 12 people in west Seattle tonight . . . 12 more to vaccinate in Burien . . . off to Anchorage and PHX next.”

North Coast Biologics did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

According to the warning letter, the Facebook post was edited in late April to say “NCB’s nCoV19 spike protein vaccine is no longer available due to a ‘cease and desist’ letter from the AG…”

But the FDA and FTC said misleading claims still remained online, at least at the time of the warning.

Mexico reported 479 new coronavirus deaths on Friday -- the biggest single-day spike in the country since the pandemic began.

It also reported 2,960 new Covid-19 cases. This raises the national total to 62,527 cases and 6,989 related deaths.

This has been the worst week of Covid-19 in Mexico, by far. The deaths recorded over the last seven days represent nearly a third of the country's entire official death toll. 

Mexico recorded its first coronavirus death more than two months ago, on March 18.

Meanwhile, the country’s confirmed case total has increased nearly 40% in just the past week.

There are now more than 100,000 cases of coronavirus across Africa, with the virus spreading to every country in the continent, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

So far, 3,100 people in Africa have died from the virus.

During a briefing on Friday, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's health emergencies program, said, “On the one hand, good news — the disease hasn't taken off in a very fast trajectory, but a concern some countries are accelerating in the number of cases.”

Ryan warned that within Africa, there are “many, many highly vulnerable groups” and the impact of coronavirus on those groups has yet to be seen. 

“We don't know what the impact of this will be in undernourished children with chronic malnutrition, we don't know what the impact of this will be in in overcrowded refugee camps. So, there's a lot still to be learned,” he said. 

Peru's national state of emergency, which includes mandatory social isolation measures, will be extended through June 30, Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra announced on Friday

He said “a national state of emergency is being declared from Monday, May 25 until June 30, including obligatory social isolation, quarantine, due to the grave circumstances that affect the life of the nation due to Covid-19,” according to state news agency Andina.

Vizcarra first declared a nationwide state of emergency, which included mandatory self-quarantine and closure of the country’s borders, on March 15.

With the extension, Peru will be under a state of emergency for at least three and a half months.

Brazil registered a record 20,803 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours, the country's health ministry said on Friday.

That raises the national total to 330,890 cases -- the second-highest worldwide after the United States.

Brazil also recorded 1,001 new coronavirus deaths in the 24 hours to Friday, bringing the nationwide death toll to 21,048.