A first case of coronavirus has been identified within the Dutch prison system, justice ministry officials said on Wednesday evening.

The prisoner is now being treated in quarantine at the hospital at Scheveningen prison, which houses both a high security and a psychiatric unit. Officials have not said which part of the prison the patient came from.

The prison service has set up a strict protocol to deal with infections and had already halted all visits to cope with the crisis.

Around 100 prisoners in five separate Dutch jails have been making protective face masks as one of their routine jobs, the justice ministry has confirmed earlier this week.

The project will start with simple cotton masks but will progress to better masks as soon as the proper supplies are available, a spokesman said. ‘They will not be suitable for hospital personnel because they will not be sufficiently sterile,’ the spokesman said.

‘But they can be used by prisoners with a cough or prison staff and others working in detention centres and institutions.’ The aim is to produce 50,000 masks a week.