The Department of Health (DOH) reported on Thursday a notable decrease in fireworks-related injuries during the 2025 New Year celebrations, with cases falling by 9.8 percent compared to the previous year.

In a press briefing, Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said the department recorded a total of 534 firework-related injuries from 22 December 2024 to 2 January 2025.

“The total number of cases on January 2, 2024, was 592. This year’s cases were 9.8 percent lower than the previous year,” Herbosa said.

Of the total number of fireworks-related cases, Herbosa said 322 were 18 years old or below, while the remaining 212 were aged 20 years and above.

Data from the department’s 62 sentinel sites showed that the majority of the victims — 433 — were men, while the rest were women. 

According to Herbosa, kwitis was the leading cause of firework-related injuries, followed by illegal fireworks such as boga, fivestar, and whistle bomb. 

Deaths

Herbosa reported a total of four deaths related to fireworks. One death was confirmed to have been caused directly by fireworks, while the remaining three cases are still under validation by the department.

The confirmed case involved a 78-year-old man from Nueva Ecija who succumbed to multiple complications after being injured by Sinturon ni Hudas.

Stray bullet incidents

Meanwhile, the department also noted a decrease in the number of stray bullet incidents in the country during the New Year revelry, with only two cases recorded, both in Metro Manila.

According to Philippine National Police PCOL Angel Garcillano, the two stray bullet incidents occured in Tondo and Pasig City.

“We are happy to inform the body that in 2025, we have reduced the number of cases of stray bullet cases to 50 percent,” said Garcillano, who was also present at the presser.

NCDs, road traffic incidents

Herbosa noted that fireworks-related injuries in the country have been on a downward trend in recent years. However, there has been a significant increase in other holiday-related injuries, such as non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and road traffic incidents.

“I’ve been a doctor in the emergency room for a long time. We’ve observed that fireworks-related injuries are decreasing, but cases of heart attacks and strokes are steadily increasing,” the Health chief said.

Over the past holiday period, he noted that the department recorded a total of 300 acute complications from its eight reporting sentinel sites across the country.

“This includes 146 acute stroke patients. Tondo Medical Center has the highest number of incidents, with 74 cases of acute coronary syndrome, and 80 others with bronchial asthma,” he said.

Herbosa reminded the public that NCDs such as ischemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, hypertension, and other heart diseases, are preventable.

“The solution to non-communicable diseases lies in lifestyle changes because these conditions, such as heart attacks and strokes, are also known as lifestyle diseases,” he said.

“We can only address and prevent them if we all take our New Year’s resolutions seriously: lose weight, exercise regularly, and reduce consumption of unhealthy foods,” he added.

He also reported a notable increase in the number of road traffic incidents, with a total of 577 cases.

“This has increased, and this is the somewhat bad news. There were 577 cases — higher than fireworks-related incidents. This is a 33 percent increase, nearly a threefold increase from last year’s 432 cases,” he said.

He noted that most of the incidents involved men aged 20 to 24, with 72 percent being motorcycle riders.

The Health chief reminded the public to avoid driving while under the influence.