The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday, January 6, reported 609 cases for the end of its fireworks-related injuries (FWRI) surveillance.

“Today marks the end of FWRI surveillance for SY 2023. There are still reported cases of stray bullet injuries (SBIs) being validated, hence the number may change in next few days. The DOH is continuously validating with the PNP to arrrive (sic) at the confirmed counts,” DOH said in its statement.

Meanwhile, the health agency said it were also checking the tetanus cases, following the peak of the incubation period in 14 days.

“Our monitoring for tetanus cases shall continue until Jan 25, as the maximum incubation period is 21 days, with an average of 14 days,” it added.

The health agency said among the 609 FWRI cases, 601 were due to legal fireworks, one from watusi ingestion, and seven from stray bullet injuries.

DOH said the types of injuries that individuals suffered were burns with amputation (33), burns without amputation (74), eye injuries with one confirmed blindness (155), and hearing loss (2).