It is its second such operation to redistribute patients from overcrowded wards in the areas worst affected by the fourth wave of infections.

An A310 MedEvac medical aircraft was to bring patients from Munich to the northern German city, as Bavarian hospitals come under growing pressure with case numbers rising in the southern state.

The plane reached Munich from its home base in Cologne earlier on Sunday.

The Bundeswehr’s Airbus A310 MedEvac has been described as a “flying intensive care unit” with capacity to treat six people. It is also using the surveillance aircraft A319OH, where two places have been set up to deliver intensive care treatment.