Senior Merkel ally says Germany is already struggling with second wave of coronavirus

German politician Michael Kretschmer, premier of the eastern German state of Saxony, pointed to rising infection rates and new clusters to say that a second coronavirus wave is already sweeping through Germany.

“The second wave of coronavirus is already here,” Kretschmer, a member of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, told the Rheinische Post newspaper on Saturday.

"It is already taking place every day. We have new clusters of infections every day which could become very high numbers," Kretschmer said.

Daily infections have risen to 800 in Germany on Friday and Saturday before declining to 300 on Sunday. Weekend figures are often lower than those from during the week due to delays in reporting.

The reproduction rate, the crucial metric which determines how the virus is spreading through the community, rose above 1 to 1.08 on Saturday, up from 0.93 on Thursday.

Health authorities said the new cases can be traced to large celebrations and gatherings, as well as returning travellers.

On Sunday Germany began a free testing regime for travellers returning from high-risk areas at several airports. Germany plans to expand this to include free testing for returnees from all destinations, not just those in a risk category, at major German airports in the coming weeks.

A spokeswoman from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany’s leading infectious disease institute who are responsible for collating the reproduction rate, told the German Press Agency the institute was concerned with the increase.

“This development is very worrying and will continue to be monitored very closely by the RKI."

"A further exacerbation of the situation must be avoided."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has consistently reiterated the need to get the reproduction rate below 1 in order to curb the virus spread throughout the community.

Despite the warnings, Kretschmer however praised Germany’s handling of the situation, saying the country’s coronavirus response showed the benefits of federalism.

“The nice thing is that people in East and West are ticking the same way in this crisis.

“Coronavirus is the best proof that this country has grown together”.

While Germany has managed to navigate the pandemic better than some of its neighbours, particularly with regard to its low mortality rate, the virus has had an impact on Europe’s largest economy.

According to the German Press Agency, 2.85 million people are unemployed in the country of 83 million – around 640,000 of them as a result of Corona, while almost seven million are working on the country’s ‘Kurzarbeit’ restricted-hours scheme.