US media: threats to tourists in Dominican Rep. could be overblown

Santo Domingo.- The US State Department said threats to tourists could be exaggerated in the Dominican Republic, which is besieged by almost daily reports of mysterious diseases and deaths, according to US media.

Citing the report, the New York Post notes that for tourists from the United States, the death rate is around 7.04 per 1,000 people from the last decade until 2018. “The overall mortality rate in that North American country was 8.49 per 1,000.”

The New York Post notes that the findings suggest that country reports that are increasing in the number of American tourists who die from unnatural causes may be overestimated.

It also quotes NBC News, which reports that a State Department official said that “we have not seen an increase in the number of deaths of US citizens reported to the department.”

It adds that in the Dominican Republic, seven US citizens have died this year due to unnatural causes, which decreased from the 15 reported in June 2011 and 2015.