The Dominican Republic health officials are dismissing the current media coverage as nothing more than “fake news” intended to hurt their tourism.
“It’s all a hysteria against the Dominican Republic, to hurt our tourism, this is a very competitive industry and we get millions of tourists, we are a popular destination,” Ministry of Public Health spokesman Carlos Suero told Fox News on Wednesday. “People are taking aim at us.”
Suero stated that the nine Americans who have died in the DR in the past year died of natural causes, according to their preliminary and final autopsy reports.
“The testing results are all negative, everything — the food, the alcohol, the air — is normal, there is no alteration of the alcohol,” he told Fox News.
The U.S. State Department told Fox News in a statement that “We are closely monitoring ongoing investigations by Dominican authorities into several recent deaths of U.S. citizens in the Dominican Republic.”
The FBI and CDC are also investigating the deaths of at least six people due to suspicion, but have yet to release any details.
Below there's a news report on one man who lost his life from New Jersey from the CBS Morning News.