Figures show 471 more patients in hospitals have died, up 12% on the previous day's 4,032, while provisional tally shows coronavirus has killed a further 884 people in nursing homes and other care facilities.
There are now 24,639 people hospitalised in France with Covid-19, with 6,017 of them in intensive care, the country's Health Agency Director Jérôme Salomon told reporters.
Sébastien Chadaud-Pétronin said he was relieved to know his mother Sophie Pétronin, abducted in 2016, was alive, but said he felt there was no way to get her 'out of this hell'.
Consortium led by Air Liquide will help boost production of critical medical kit as President Emmanuel Macron promises to ramp up production of critical medical equipment to treat coronavirus.
Gender equality minister Marlène Schiappa also said about 20 centres would open in stores around the country so women could drop in for help while getting groceries.
European affairs minister Amelie de Montchalin told France Inter radio that if Europe was just a single market when times were good, then it made no sense.