Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, hospitalized with coronavirus-induced pneumonia earlier this month, left the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, capital of the Lombardy region in Italy's north, on Monday
ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2020) Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, hospitalized with coronavirus-induced pneumonia earlier this month, left the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, capital of the Lombardy region in Italy's north, on Monday.
Berlusconi was admitted to San Raffaele with early phase bilateral pneumonia after testing positive for COVID-19 on September 3.
"Thanks to heavens and the professionalism of San Raffaele doctors, I overcame what I consider the most dangerous challenge of my life," Berlusconi told a group of political supporters and journalists who gathered outside the hospital as he exited.
In a five-minute address, Berlusconi thanked the Italian politicians who supported him during the illness, saying that this support helped him "overcome the most difficult moments, which were very many in the first three days."
The 83-year-old further called on fellow compatriots to exercise "maximum possible personal and social responsibility."
According to Berlusconi, there were tens of thousands of people monitored by San Raffaele doctors for COVID-19.
His doctor Alberto Zangrillo said earlier in the day that the politician would spend the rest of his recovery period in his villa just outside Milan.
Lombardy and the rest of Italy's north were hit the hardest by the virus. The fast spread of the infection in this region made Italy Europe's worst outbreak in a mere month in March. The cumulative number of cases confirmed in Italy as of Monday is 288,761, of which Lombardy accounts for 103,464.
