Over 240 Fall Ill From Food Poisoning in Syria's Deir al-Zour

More than 240 people in Deir al-Zour, a city in eastern Syria, fell ill from food poisoning, and most have since been sent home, China's state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.

Citing the provincial health directorate, the state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV put the number of cases above 247 and said patients were admitted to Deir al-Zour National Hospital and al-Shahid Ahmad Huweidi Hospital.

Earlier on Sunday, provincial health director Nasr al-Khalaf told the state news agency SANA that 227 cases had been recorded, with symptoms ranging from mild to moderate.

Al-Khalaf said on Saturday that patients had been suffering from vomiting, diarrhea and fever.

Medical teams treated everyone who was admitted, the directorate said, and most patients left hospital with prescriptions and medical advice, while some remain under treatment and observation.

Al-Khalaf said two restaurants in the city had been closed as a precaution, and that food and water samples had been collected to determine what caused the contamination.

Health and consumer protection authorities are investigating the outbreak, Al-Khalaf added, and any further measures will depend on the results of laboratory tests.

Deir al-Zour lies along the Euphrates River and is one of the main population centers in eastern Syria, a region whose public services have been under strain since the country's civil war began in 2011.

Food poisoning outbreaks of this kind are typically traced to contaminated food or water, so the laboratory findings are expected to determine whether further action is taken against the restaurants.