The West Rand District Health Department is looking into a suspected food poisoning incident that resulted in 29 people being admitted to hospital and at least two having died.

In a statement sent by Nomagugu Hloma, the West Rand Health District’s communication officer, the department said they have collected water and food samples after receiving information about the suspected food poisoning cluster outbreak on Monday, November 15 at 07:30, following a funeral the previous weekend.

The funeral on Kadima Street in Kagiso was held for an elderly woman who had close ties with a local church. The funeral started at 07:00 on Saturday, November 13 and the food was served at around 11:00. By 16:00 that afternoon reports of sudden vomiting and diarrhoea started coming in.

By the following day there were rumours that at least eight people had fallen ill and at least one had died.

The statement read that the latest figures stood at 29 people confirmed to have been admitted to private or public facilities, and that samples had been collected to find causative organisms.

There are an additional 11 unverified cases and two suspected deaths.

The department is waiting for the cause of death to be determined as well as the results of the tests done on the water and food samples.

The investigation is still in progress and as soon as the results have been processed and released, a conclusion will be drawn and remedial actions will be taken.