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ā€˜Scientists need to be more involved in politicsā€™

Brazilian scientists often stay away from politics but they should be more involved, especially during pandemics, the microbiologist and president of the Question of Science Institute Natalia Pasternak has said.

ā€œIā€™m a scientist but Iā€™m also a citizen and I see what the current government is doing to my country, especially because the federal government ignores science and ignores the scientific community and it doesnā€™t look to science for advice as it should during a sanitary crisis, a health crisis,ā€ she said.

President Jair Bolsonaro has been criticised for minimising the risk posed by the coronavirus, calling it ā€œa little coldā€ at the start of the pandemic.

The country has the second highest number of coronavirus cases in the world with more than 3.7m cases according to Johns Hopkins University.

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