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Chris Hani Baragwanath entrance, Soweto, Johannesburg.
The City of Johannesburg’s Environmental Health Department has closed a spaza shop in Mapetla, Soweto, following an incident in which an 8-year-old boy was hospitalised after eating allegedly contaminated snacks.
The boy is currently in the Intensive Care Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. He reportedly bought a corn snack and a dairy drink from the local spaza shop last Friday and shared it with his three siblings.
According to the family, the child began vomiting, complained of stomach pain, and lost mobility in the early hours of Saturday morning. He was taken to Chiawelo Clinic before being transferred to Baragwanath Hospital.
The other three children showed no symptoms of illness. They were treated at the clinic as a precaution and later discharged.
Police have collected the empty snack packet and submitted it for laboratory testing. The investigation is ongoing, and authorities are awaiting the results.
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