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A post shared by Karen Ibasco (@karenibasco) on Mar 14, 2020 at 8:02pm PDT

MANILA -- Miss Earth 2017 Karen Ibasco surprised her social media followers as she revealed that she is a survivor of the novel coronavirus.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, the former beauty queen said she initially kept quiet about her condition, but knew that she had to share her journey "so others will be informed with what to do if ever they get infected."

"We (my whole family) did all the precautions but sad to say we still had it. Most probably we got it from deliveries," she said.

"After 3 weeks, my body is still recovering but slowly I'm getting my strength back," she added.

In her post, Ibasco also shared the contact numbers and rates of hospitals that are offering swab testing.

She encouraged her more than 83,000 Instagram followers to get tested should they start experiencing symptoms associated with COVID-19 such as cough, colds, fever, sore throat, and loss of smell or taste.

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A post shared by Karen Ibasco (@karenibasco) on Sep 29, 2020 at 9:42pm PDT

Taking her efforts to help inform the public about the virus a step further, Ibasco uploaded a vlog about her journey as a COVID-19 survivor.

She told her viewers to "not panic" if they test positive for the novel coronavirus, and to stay home to avoid infecting others.

"Kasi kapag nag-panic ka nawawalan ka ng presence of mind, hindi mo alam 'yung dapat mong gawin," she said, adding that the next step is to do contact tracing and report to the barangay about the situation.

COVID-19 SURVIVAL TIPS

As for her recovery, Ibasco said she treated COVID-19 like a "normal flu," taking paracetamol for fever, gargling regularly to soothe sore throat, drinking plenty of water, and eating fruits and vegetables.

"Rest and sleep early. Then drink your vitamins. It's better na you would drink it twice a day, in the morning and at night," she said.

Ibasco also monitored her symptoms every day and encouraged her viewers to write down their daily experience.

"What happened to me was mayroon munang nagkasakit sa bahay and then halos isa-isa kaming nagkakasakit inside the house. Because most probably, if there's one inside your house that is COVID-positive, lahat kayo mahahawa," she said.

The former Miss Earth went on: "So what you have to do to prevent that from happening is to quarantine that person. But in my case, what happened was that during my first day I didn't feel well, I got a fever, and my throat was so itchy, at nagkakaroon na rin ako ng colds."

After recovering from fever and sore throat in three days, the symptoms went back again during her 14-day quarantine, according to Ibasco.

"Nagkasakit ulit ako kasi hindi pa naman tapos 'yung span ng two weeks. So I got a fever again, my throat became super itchy again, and I definitely lost my [sense of] taste and smell. After one week lang siya nawala," she said.

Ibasco then mentioned the items that came in handy in her COVID-19 ordeal, such as a thermometer to check for fever and an oximeter that measures oxygen level.

"Importante na malaman mo 'yung oxygen level mo because the normal oxygen level is about 95 to 100. Kapag nag-umpisa siyang bumaba, ibig sabihin may nangyayari sa loob ng katawan mo. In our case, it's good na we had doctors that we can ask what we can do. Because in my mom's case, bumaba 'yung kanyang oxygen level continuously," she said, stressing the need for those who have low oxygen levels and other symptoms to be brought to a hospital to avoid further complications.

To those who are feeling "a lot better" after experiencing symptoms, Ibasco said a bit of exercise can be beneficial for the lungs.

She also mentioned how prayer and optimism helped her in dealing with COVID.

Watch her vlog below:

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