Silvio Berlusconi back in hospital ‘for tests’ spokesman confirms

FILE PHOTO: Former Italian Prime Minister and leader of the Forza Italia party Silvio Berlusconi attends a rally ahead of a regional election in Emilia-Romagna, in Ravenna
REUTERS

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is back in hospital for tests, his spokesman confirmed on Friday.

“Hospitalisation was required for a thorough clinical evaluation,” a source told AFP, after media reports that the 84-year-old was admitted to Milan’s San Raffaele hospital on Thursday.

The source gave no further details on his condition.

It came after Berlusconi said surviving Covid-19 was “the most dangerous challenge” of his life.

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The four-times prime minister and billionaire businessman underwent major heart surgery in 2016 and has also survived prostate cancer.

Last year Berlusconi campaigned from his hospital bed for Forza Italia’s candidates in the regional elections and called on the public to wear face masks.

At the time his personal doctor Alberto Zangrillo, who prematurely insisted the pandemic was over, told reporters that Berlusconi’s recovery had proved that the virus has lost virulence.

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