Photo: Screenshot of video from Elephant News

Nearly 100 people got food poisoning at a wedding banquet in North China's Shanxi Province recently, and the topic drew a lot of attention on Sina Weibo on Monday, with the local government announcing on Tuesday that all patients had recovered by Sunday and investigations are underway.

On September 7, a local resident surnamed Lü hosted a wedding banquet, inviting more than 400 relatives and friends to attend in Quwo county, Linfen in North China's Shanxi Province, according to Henan-based hntv.tv on Monday.

After lunch, a few of them began to have symptoms like fever, diarrhea and vomiting, with nearly 100 attendees suffering from food poisoning in different degrees, ranging from a 4-year-old child to 80-year-olds. Some of them were hospitalized for treatment, and some with milder symptoms took medicine themselves, said the report.

The host Lü felt guilty and cried, saying later that he had reported the incident to the police, according to media reports.

An employee from the hotel involved said that they have sent samples of the food to relevant departments for further investigation. The restaurant has been temporarily closed.

"It has nothing to do with us, and the test results [for our food] have come out. Those who got poisoned are the ones who are close to the family, and they ate at the host's house in the morning," said one employee from the restaurant, according to hntv.tv.

The local authorities including the health bureau, center for disease control and prevention, and the market supervision administration have jointly started to investigate the incident, media reports noted.

The topic gained more than 130 million views on Weibo as of press time on Monday, with many netizens calling for a thorough investigation. "This is a major food safety incident. The authorities should conduct a thorough investigation," one netizen commented.

Another said it must be very difficult for the whole family, as it was supposed to be a happy moment, adding that no one would expect this at a wedding banquet.

"The food for more than 400 people must be prepared well in advance. Food safety is really important," one netizen said.

Some other netizens expressed hope that the people who got food poisoning recover as soon as possible.

The Quwo County People's Government released a statement on Tuesday that around 470 people attended the banquet, and from the afternoon of September 8 to 12, a local hospital received 61 patients with diarrhea who had attended the wedding banquet.

The statement also said that all patients have recovered as of Sunday. Currently, the government is coordinating and cooperating to trace the origin, while the investigating results will be promptly announced to the public.

Global Times