Cannabis smokers aiming to keep calm and carry on despite the coronavirus queued up outside Dutch “coffee shops” after the government ordered their closure to beat the outbreak.

Customers lined up in their dozens on Sunday as they tried to beat a deadline for the closure of the marijuana cafes and stockpile weed supplies for what could be weeks of lockdown.

The Netherlands’ famed coffee shops have become as much a part of the country’s popular image abroad as sex clubs in Amsterdam’s famed red light district, which were also ordered to shut by 6pm along with all bars and restaurants.

“For maybe for the next two months we’re not able to get some weed so it should be nice to at least have some in the house,” Jonathan, a

Dutch buyer, said outside The Point coffee shop in The Hague.

“My friend called me like five minutes ago, he saw the news conference — good friend,” he told AFP.

The queues built up minutes after the Dutch health and education ministers gave a televised news conference announcing the closure of many businesses, along with all Dutch schools.