France on Saturday reported a lower daily toll for deaths from COVID-19, declaring a "plateau" had been reached in the country's coronavirus epidemic, albeit at a very high level.

Top French health official Jerome Salomon said 353 more people had died in hospitals and 290 in nursing homes to bring the total death toll to 13,832. The day earlier, 554 had died in hospitals and 433 in nursing homes.

"A very high plateau for the epidemic appears to have been reached but the epidemic remains very active," he told reporters.