Thomas Schaefer, 54, found dead on railway tracks at Hochhein, near Frankfurt

A German state finance minister has been found dead in an apparent suicide which has been linked to the coronavirus crisis, officials said Sunday.

Thomas Schaefer, 54, minister for the Hesse region, was found dead on railway tracks at Hochhein, near Frankfurt, on Saturday.

Authorities said the married father-of-two appeared to have killed himself, with state governor Volker Bouffier suggesting on Sunday he was in despair over the coronavirus crisis.

Thomas Schaefer, 54, finance minister for the Hesse region, was found dead on railway tracks at Hochhein, near Frankfurt, on Saturday

Police and prosecutors said witness statements and observations at the scene had led them to believe the minister, who was a member of Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, had killed himself.

He leaves behind his wife and two children, aged nine and 12.

State governor Volker Bouffier linked Schaefer's death to the virus crisis on Sunday.

'We are in shock, we are in disbelief and above all we are immensely sad,' Bouffier said in a recorded statement.

A visibly shaken Bouffier said Schaefer had been working 'day and night' to help companies and workers deal with the economic impact of the pandemic.

Bouffier added that Mr Schaefer was worried about 'whether it would be possible to succeed in fulfilling the population's huge expectations, particularly of financial help' amid the coronavirus crisis.

'I have to assume that these worries overwhelmed him,' Bouffier said. 'He apparently couldn't find a way out. He was in despair and left us.'

Empty streets near Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin yesterday as the nation battles coronavirus

Thomas Schaefer was in the same CDU party as Angela Merkel, pictured. The chancellor has been working from home but has tested negative for coronavirus

Popular and well-respected, Schaefer had long been touted as a possible successor to Bouffier.

The CDU's outgoing leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said Schaefer's death was a 'shock' to everyone in the party.

'This news leaves us sad and bewildered. All our thoughts and prayers are with his family,' she said.

Merkel herself has been working from home after coming into contact with an infected doctor, although the chancellor herself has tested negative.

Germany's federal and state governments have drawn up huge aid packages to cushion the blow of the economic standstill.

The country's latest figures today show 57,298 cases and 455 deaths, with the states nearest Italy taking a larger hit than most of Germany.