Children play with sparklers at the Divisoria market in Manila on December 31, 2019. Authorities have banned the use of dangerous firecrackers prompting new year revellers to buy safer alternatives such as party horns and safer firecrackers. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — As of 6 a.m. of Tuesday, Dec. 31, the Department of Health (DOH) has recorded 188 firecracker-related injuries since they began their monitoring of 62 sentinel sites on Dec. 22.

Firecracker injuries rise to 163 ahead of New Year's Eve — DOH

Twenty five new cases were reported in the previous day, the DOH said.

The DOH said the partial tally of firecracker-related injuries was 58 percent higher compared to the same period last year, which was at 124.

Of the 188 victims, 152 are aged 19 and below. Meanwhile, 172 of the victims are male and the 16 others are female.

Seventy two percent of the injuries (132) are due to illegal firecrackers such as boga, 5-star and piccolo. Only 123 of the victims were actively using the firecrackers that caused the injuries.

The DOH said eye injury, burns, and amputations were the most common injuries they have monitored.

The DOH earlier warned that using firecrackers could lead to amputation of body parts, blindness, hearing loss, poisoning, burns, permanent lung damage, and even death from severe injuries.

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