MANILA- The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday reported a 35% decrease in fireworks-related injuries but cautioned the public these numbers may still increase due to late consultation.
The DOH added that there was no case of fireworks ingestion, stray bullet injury or death reported.
From 21 December 2019 to 1 January 2020, 164 fireworks related injuries were reported, 87 cases lower than 251 cases reported last year(249 fireworks related injuries and two cases of fireworks ingestion.) The number of cases this year is 71% lower than the five-year average from 2014 to 2018 of 403 cases.
“We were able to reduce cases by as much as 35%, this is indeed a welcome development but we will not stop until we achieve zero fireworks related injuries,” DOH secretary Francisco Duque III said in a news statement.
Most of the cases came from the National Capital Region with 84 cases, CALABARZON 13, Ilocos Region 12, Central Luzon 11, Cagayan Valley 10 cases, and Western Visayas 10 cases.
Among the reported NCR cases, 27 came from Manila, Quezon City 19, Mandaluyong 9 while Marikina and Las Piñas recorded 7 cases each. NCR registered a 16% decrease in the number of injuries compared to last year.
Males comprise 70% of all reported injuries with ages of cases range from 1 to 71 years old. One hundred four (63%) injuries were among those aged under 15 years.
The agency also reported that the top fireworks that caused the injuries were kwitis (33 cases), luces (19), fountain (18), and piccolo (13).
Of all reported injuries, most were blast/burn incidents without amputation (71%), eye injuries (26%) and blast/burn requiring amputation (4%).
About 55% injuries happened on the streets while 43% of reported cases occurred at home.
According to the DOH report, the he most injured body parts were the hands(32%), eyes (26%), head (13%), legs 11% and forearm/arm (9%).
Legal fireworks resulted to 59 percent of all reported injuries illegal fireworks (32%) and unknown fireworks, 10%.