By Analou De Vera

The Department of Health (DOH) said on Friday that it has already recorded 340 injuries caused by firecrackers over the holiday season, with no report so far of stray bullet injuries or deaths.

The DOH said the figure was as of 6 a.m. of Jan. 3, and is 15 cases higher than the 325 cases reported last Dec. 21, 2018 to Jan. 3, 2019.

The figure also includes a case of firework ingestion involving a two-year-old girl from Manila.

“The incident happened on the evening of Dec. 31, 2019. Her sibling put luces (sparklers) into her mouth. She was brought to UST Hospital where she was observed and sent home thereafter,” the DOH said in its Fireworks-Related Injury Surveillance report number 13.

The majority of the cases were recorded in the National Capital Region with 168 injuries. Western Visayas came in second with 36 reported injuries, Ilocos region with 29 cases, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) with 23 cases, and Central Luzon with 22 cases.

The DOH said 204 injuries were “due to legal fireworks.” The top fireworks involved were Kwitis, Luces, Fountain, Piccolo, and Five-Star. Among the five, Piccolo and Five-Star are illegal fireworks.

The DOH said that most of the cases involved injury to the hands and eyes — 245 cases had “blast/burn injuries not requiring amputation, 84 had eye injuries, and 14 had blast/burn injuries requiring amputation.”

The health department started its surveillance of firecracker-related injuries last Dec. 21, 2019 and will end it on Jan. 6, 2020.