Asia’s Songbird, Regine Velasquez, tested positive for influenza A(H1N1) virus but she has already recovered. Velasquez said she got infected by the virus days before her much-awaited guesting in Charice’s first major concert last June 27 at SMX Convention Center. “Mabilis lang pero buti na lang hindi naman matinding strain. I found out I was already okay kasi sa dami ng nagpa-pa-checkup [na-delay iyong result ng swab test],” she said. She admitted that she got scared when she was diagnosed with H1N1. “Understandable naman nga kasi nga naging pandemic nga. It’s scary kasi at that time when it came out, we didn’t even know how to treat it,” she said. During the quarantine period, she said she wore a mask so as not to infect those who are close to her. Velasquez was the first local celebrity to publicly admit that she got infected by the disease. “It felt like that, trangkaso lang. Pero siyempre sa mga dami ng chismis, hindi mo maalis na ma-praning ka, di  ba? Pero may katotohanan pala ang pagka-praning ko,” she said. She said she learned that the best thing to do in order to combat any disease is to keep oneself healthy. “Kasi kung talagang malakas ang immune system mo, hindi ka naman tatamaan ng sakit,” she said. The singer also attributed her speedy recovery to the following: adequate rest, vitamins, and boyfriend Ogie Alcasid. “Yeah, he took care of me,” she said. The Department of Health has already recorded a total of 1,709 confirmed A (H1N1) cases in the Philippines as of June 27, 2009.

source: Ynews ABS-CBN

Philippines authorities warned that Mayon, one of the country’s most active volcanoes, is showing signs of life and could erupt again soon.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it is raising the 2,460-metre (8,070-foot) mountain’s alert status to “moderate unrest” from that of “low-level unrest.”

Nearby residents were reminded not to venture into a “permanent danger zone” in a six-kilometre (nearly four mile) radius from the crater.

The zone was also extended to seven kilometres on its southeast flank, which faces Legazpi, a city of 160,000 people.

“This alert condition signifies a state of unrest which could lead to ash explosions or eventually to hazardous magmatic eruption,” the institute said in its latest advisory.

The increased frequency of low-level volcanic quakes had pushed toward the crater lip “a cone-shaped pile of hot, steaming old rocks, possibly remnants from previous eruptions which could be the source of the glow at the crater,” it added.

Seismologist Renato Solidum, the head of the government institute, said the immediate danger if volcanic activity escalates was of ash explosions that could affect aviation at Legazpi airport or crush roofs of nearby houses.

“Sudden explosions and rockfalls from the upper slopes” are also a threat, the advisory said.

Mayon has erupted 48 times since records began, most recently in 2006. A major eruption in 1814 buried the town of Cagsawa.

plucked :Ynews