Image copyright Getty Images

Fashion labels Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga are to use their workshops to make surgical masks instead of luxury clothes.

Their parent company The Kering Group has also promised to buy three million masks for the French health service.

In a statement, the group said it would import them from China to "contribute to the fight against Covid-19".

It has also pledged to make a donation to The Institut Pasteur biomedical research institute.

On Monday, French health authorities reported 186 new deaths from coronavirus, taking the nation's total to 860, as Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced further lockdown measures.

The Paris-based company said: "The French workshops of Kering's Houses Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent are preparing to manufacture masks while complying with the strictest health protection measures for their staff members, with production getting under way as soon as the manufacturing process and materials have been approved by the relevant authorities."

The Paris-based multinational also houses labels like Gucci and Alexander McQueen.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Models were seen wearing facemasks at Marine Serre's Paris Fashion Week show in February

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