Silvio Berlusconi tests positive for Covid-19 after Sardinia visit
Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has tested positive for coronavirus and is isolating at home.
In a statement on Wednesday, his political party, Forza Italia, said Berlusconi, who turns 83 this month, had taken a precautionary test which confirmed he had contracted the virus. He would quarantine at his home in Arcore, near Milan, from where he would continue to work, the statement said.
His doctor, Alberto Zangrillo, director of anesthesia and intensive care at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, told Italian media Berlusconi was asymptomatic. “He remains at his home in isolation as per regional measures,” Zangrillo said.
Berlusconi, who led three Italian governments between early 1994 and 2011, was tested for Covid-19 in light of his recent stay in Sardinia, where there have been several coronavirus clusters in recent weeks.
Related: Italy contacting visitors to Sardinian nightclub after Covid-19 cluster
He was recently pictured at his villa on the Costa Smeralda alongside Flavio Briatore, the former Formula One team boss and owner of the island’s Billionaire nightclub, where an outbreak occurred. As of late August, more than 60 coronavirus cases had been linked to the club, which hosted thousands of guests, including Italian and international VIPs, during the month.
Briatore was admitted to hospital last week after contracting the virus and is now isolating at home. “I came to visit my friend, the president: I love him so much and find him in good shape. Bravo Silvio,” Briatore said in a short video posted on Instagram.
Berlusconi said last week he had taken a test and did not have Covid-19.
Sardinia was one of the Italian regions least affected by the pandemic, but it saw a sharp increase in cases in August as tourists visited. On Wednesday, cases across Italy rose by 1,326, while six more deaths were confirmed.
