Germany’s leaders are at loggerheads over how to deal with the pandemic with politicians from all sides embarking on early campaigning for September’s national elections. Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday used all her authority to make reluctant state governments fall back in line and implement emergency-brake measures in response to the Covid crisis only to be told off by her successor as Party chairman. While Merkel said in one of her rare one-on-one interviews on public service television that she is willing to centralise efforts to battle the third wave, Armin Laschet flatly contradicted Merkel’s appeal not to ease lockdown measures.