Inmates stage a protest against new rules to cope with coronavirus emergency, atop the roof of the San Vittore prison in Milan, Italy [Source: TVNZ]

Inmates in three Italian prisons will start producing face masks to be used as a protection against the coronavirus epidemic, the Italian Justice Ministry says.

Eight machines with daily output capacity of 400,000 masks will be installed starting from mid-April to three jails in Milan, Rome and Salerno, a statement said.

The country’s current coronavirus death toll is the world’s highest, now standing at 15,362.

The masks will be distributed first among the prison population and prison guards, but an expected “considerable surplus” will be given to frontline medical staff in hospitals.

Face masks are in short supply in Italy, and early in the country’s epidemic there were violent riots in prisons sparked by inmates’ fears about contagion risks.

Italy is reporting 681 new COVID-19 fatalities, the first time the daily increase has fallen under 700 in more than a week.

For the first time since the start of the epidemic there has also been a fall in the number of people under intensive care, down by 74 to 3,994.