The number of holiday injuries recorded in Eastern Visayas was slightly higher than the previous year’s but all of the cases were from minor blasts and there was no victims of stray bullets, a regional health official said.
At least 79 people were hurt during the holiday revelry, with 37 from Northern Samar, 24 in Eastern Samar, 12 in Leyte, five in Samar and one in Southern Leyte, according to Roderick Boyd Cerro, chief of the DOH regional epidemiology and surveillance unit.
“We still consider the ‘Iwas Paputok’ campaign successful since injuries this year were less serious than in the previous years,” he said.
Seventy injuries were recorded from December 2014 to Jan. 2015.
Majority or 80 percent of cases were injured due to “piccolo” ignited by children below 11 years old.
The government has launched its monitoring of Christmas and New Year revelries on Dec. 16, 2015 and will conclude on Jan. 5, 2016.