Banquet operations at Mandarin Orchard Singapore's main ballroom have been suspended with immediate effect, following a large number of food poisoning cases reported.

A total of 175 people fell ill with food poisoning and nine of them were hospitalised as of Dec. 5.

Those who fell ill had been attendees at four separate events held at the Grand Ballroom at Mandarin Orchard Hotel between Dec. 1 and 3, said the Ministry of Health (MOH), National Environment Agency (NEA) and Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA).

The nine people who were hospitalised are in stable condition.

NEA had also suspended the banquet kitchen serving the Grand Ballroom.

This was after all the affected people had attended events or eaten meals at the hotel's Grand Ballroom, and in view of "suspected ongoing transmission".

A massive clean-up effort and staff screening is carried out as part of investigations into the cause.

Multiple events

Channel NewsAsia reported that multiple attendees of different events held at the Grand Ballroom on Saturday night, Sunday afternoon and Sunday night fell ill.

This was despite one of the Sunday night events, a Jewish Chanukah dinner, having served food prepared outside of the hotel due to special requirements.

That event was attended by about 500 guests.

The two attendees from this Jewish dinner who were hospitalised are elderly folks.

The night before, another 20 people took ill after attending a wedding dinner at the Grand Ballroom on Saturday night.

One of them was reportedly hospitalised.

Those affected experienced food poisoning symptoms, including vomiting and diarrhoea on Sunday night and on Monday.

This is the fourth high-profile case of mass food poisoning reported in Singapore.

One death has so far occurred in the first high-profile case affecting Spize at River Valley.

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