Berlusconi transferred from ICU to regular ward, family says

Italian media say former Premier Silvio Berlusconi has been transferred from an intensive care unit to a regular ward at a Milan hospital

Italy Berlusconi (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, who has chronic leukemia, has been transferred from an intensive care unit to a regular ward at a Milan hospital, where he is being treated for a lung infection, his brother was quoted as saying on Sunday.

"All OK, he's out of intensive care,'' Milan daily Corriere della Sera quoted Paolo Berlusconi as saying before visiting his 86-year-old sibling at San Raffaele hospital.

Italian news agency LaPresse also said the brother confirmed the transfer out of the ICU at the hospital, where he was admitted on April 5.

The hospital declined to comment on the report, but said that it would issue a medical bulletin on Berlusconi's condition on Monday.

Matteo Salvini, a longtime right-wing ally of Berlusconi, and currently a government minister, tweeted “Good luck, Silvio, my friend” and linked his wishes in the tweet to Corriere’s report.

Berlusconi was hospitalized for treatment of what his doctors said is a lung infection. During his hospitalization, his doctors, including his longtime personal physician, revealed publicly that the former three-time premier has chronic leukemia.

In past years, Berlusconi has also suffered serious heart problems, and in 2020 was admitted to the same hospital, in critical condition, for treatment of COVID-19.

His Forza Italia party, which he founded around 30 years ago, and Salvini's anti-migrant League, are junior partners in the government led by far-right Premier Giorgia Meloni. Unlike Salvini, who is infrastructure and transport minister, Berlusconi holds no government role.