PARIS, France — Luxury fashion group Chanel said on Sunday it would launch production of face masks to help bolster supplies in France, as the coronavirus sweeps across the country.

Prototypes were being worked on and would roll off production lines once they received the approval of French authorities.

"Today we are mobilising our workforce and our partners... to produce protective masks and blouses," Chanel said in a statement.

On Saturday, Health Minister Olivier Veran said the government had ordered more than a billion face masks, mostly from China, to be supplied in the weeks and months ahead.

France was using 40 million face masks per week, he said. Doctors, nursing home carers and police have complained of shortages.

Chanel also said it would not be putting any of its 4,500 employees into temporary unemployment as it weathers the sharp downtown in economic activity.

By Richard Lough; editor: Catherine Evans.