Health Ministry closes locales in "Little Haiti"

SANTO DOMINGO. Among the efforts of the Health authorities to avoid the spread of cholera, the Ministry of Public health closed down eight places that functioned as ‘hotels' in the so-called "Little Haiti" or nearby the Mercado Modelo in the National District because they dumped refuse and dirty water into the street and did not comply with other health regulations.

Likewise, the authorities reported that they do not have any new cases of cholera reported, leaving the number of cases at four.

The administration, through the Ministry of Tourism, guaranteed yesterday that the tourists that visit the Dominican Republic are in no danger of being affected by cholera or any other infectious disease.

In this sense, the Minister of Tourism, Francisco Javier Garcia, said that the Dominican Republic has a sanitation structure that allows it to perfectly handle this situation with great problems.

Likewise, Garcia complained that there are international businesses that, taking advantage of the cholera issue, are behind a negative campaign to try and diminish the flow of tourists that come to the country and the tries to direct these tourists ot their own countries.

He said that contrary to this, the arrival of foreigners has increased over the last few days and it is expected that at the close of the year some four million tourists will have visited the country in 2010.