Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
MANILA, Philippines — The number of fireworks-related injuries doubled overnight after the New Year festivities, according to the Department of Health on Monday, with at least 116 new cases nationwide, including an 11-month-old baby injured by an illegal firecracker.
This brings the total number of firecracker-related injuries to 231 since the health department began its monitoring in December 2023 — higher than the total number of cases recorded by this time last year.
Sunday evening marked the country’s first celebration of New Year’s Eve without any COVID-19-related restrictions on movement and gatherings more than three years since the pandemic began. The government lifted the state of public emergency and removed all related protocols and restrictions in July 2023.
The DOH said that it has been beefing up its campaign against the use of firecrackers during the holidays to prevent injuries and saw positive results before the pandemic in 2020. To date, 2019 has seen the lowest number of average daily cases at 159.
“Our data shows that we have a new hope this year for less injuries by going for community fireworks displays across the nation,” the DOH said in a press release.
On Monday morning, the DOH said that it recorded 116 new cases, including the youngest victim so far — an 11-month-old child from the National Capital Region whose face was burned by an illegal piccolo “lit by someone else on the street.”
The DOH added that the oldest individual to be injured by a firecracker is a 76-year-old man from the Ilocos Region who sustained an eye injury from a kwitis he lit at home.
Nearly half of all injuries (49%) were from Metro Manila, followed by Central Luzon (27%) and Ilocos Region (24%).
A mix of legal and illegal firecrackers caused the injuries, which included kwitis, 5-Star, boga, piccolo, among others. — Cristina Chi
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Credit belongs to: www.philstar.com
