Ahead of the Spring Festival, Beijing authorities announced that they would be cutting down on fireworks sales in the capital in an effort to cut down on smog. Just over 500 outlets were allowed to sell fireworks this year (from January 22 to February 1), down 30 percent from 2016. While the setting off of fireworks did lead to high levels of air pollution during the holiday, it did have a positive impact on injury numbers.
As of Wednesday, roughly 122,000 containers of fireworks were sold in Beijing. From January 27 to February 1, 81 people suffered fireworks-related injuries. The number was down 21.4 percent compared to last year, Xinhua reports. No deaths or serious injuries were reported.
Over 70,000 police officers, firefighters, medical experts and volunteers were on call to deal with fireworks-related issues on Wednesday. Wednesday marked the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, which typically sees the most amount of fireworks set off during the holiday.
In addition to dozens of injuries, there were also 62 fires caused by fireworks across the city during the holiday.
Beijing did see another spike in air pollution on Thursday due to the combination of fireworks being set off around the city and weather conditions. A cold front is expected to dissipate the smog on Sunday.
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