Germany is showing 'very concerning' signs of a second coronavirus wave, the country's doctors' union has warned

• Germany is starting to experience a second coronavirus wave, the head of its doctors' union warned.
• "We are already in a second, shallow upswing ... There is a danger that we will lose the successes that we have achieved in Germany so far," said Susanne Johna, president of the Marburger Bund.
• Germany recorded 879 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, according to the country's epidemiology institute.
• The current daily numbers are much smaller than what Germany recorded at the height of the pandemic.
• However, The Robert Koch Institute said the upwards trend was "very concerning."
• Scientists in Germany fear citizens are losing interest in following social distancing rules.

Germany is already showing signs of a second wave of the coronavirus, which threatens to undo the country's early work in containing the impact of the pandemic, the head of the country's doctors' union has warned.

"We are already in a second, shallow upswing," Susanne Johna, president of the Marburger Bund, the trade union for doctors and medical students in Germany, told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper, in comments reported by Die Welle.

The daily number of new cases in Germany has been rising gradually over the last few weeks, with 879 new cases recorded on Tuesday, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the country's epidemiology institute, which called the trend "very concerning."

Germany was praised for its early efforts in responding to the coronavirus pandemic. It had recorded over 9,200 deaths as of Wednesday morning, a far lower figure than other European countries including France, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

Johna emphasised that the second wave was currently not as severe as the first in March and April, when Germany's health authorities recorded thousands of new cases every day.

But she said that people should remain vigilant by practising good hygiene, wearing masks, and observing social distancing measures, amid warnings that the public was starting to lose interest in adhering to the measures.

"There is a danger that we will lose the successes that we have achieved in Germany so far in a combination of repression and longing for normality," she said. "We all long for normality. But we are in a state that is not normal."

Hospitals in Germany are bracing themselves a challenging autumn as the new cases of COVID-19 rise again, with some regions warning that non-urgent operations may have to be postponed, The Times of London newspaper reports.

The warning came after thousands of protesters gathered in Berlin over the weekend to march against the requirement for Germans to wear face masks in some public settings, injuring dozens of police officers.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesperson said the protesters, few of whom wore masks or respected social distancing rules, had "exploited their right to demonstrate" and were in "no way justified, according to German-language newspaper The Local.