HAILED as an example to follow for its initial coronavirus response, Germany is now struggling to curb surging infections amid Europe’s second wave.

“We are now at a point where, on average nationally, we no longer know where 75 per cent of infections come from,” German chancellor Angela Merkel said during a press conference on 28 October.

Unlike many nations, Germany didn’t have to build up its testing and contact-tracing infrastructure from scratch when the pandemic hit. During its first wave in the spring, …