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According to a representative survey, there is no clear evidence of the existence of the coronavirus for around one in seven German citizens (15 percent).

This is a result of the science barometer, which has been shedding light on people's attitudes towards science and research since 2014.

Almost 40 percent of those surveyed also assume that scientists do not tell the population everything they know about the coronavirus and that it is important to obtain information on it from outside of science.

Around 1000 adults were interviewed on the phone between November 3rd and 9th for the barometer.

"From our point of view, the relatively high number of undecided and doubting people is worrying," said Dorothee Menhart, spokeswoman for the non-profit initiative Wissenschaft im Dialog.

"This shows that science has to try harder to get into conversation with those who are unsure."

Two thirds still consider controversies to be important

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However, two thirds of those surveyed are also of the opinion that controversies between scientists about Corona are helpful so that the correct research results prevail.

This value has not changed compared to spring.

The general trust in science and research is 60 percent in the survey.

That is a little less than in spring.

In April 2020 this value was 73 percent, in May 2020 it was 66 percent.

But the result is still higher than in previous years.

In 2019, this value was 46 percent.

The Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft are sponsors and supporters of Science in Dialog.

Among others, people from the “lateral thinking” initiative question the danger of the coronavirus.

The initiative has been calling for demonstrations across Germany for weeks.

On Thursday and Friday, the interior ministers of the federal and state governments want to discuss, among other things, how to deal with the "lateral thinkers" at a conference in Berlin.

In Baden-Württemberg, the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution will in future observe the movement “lateral thinking 711”, as State Interior Minister Thomas Strobel (CDU) announced on Wednesday.

There are first real indications of extremist tendencies, said the minister in support.