Italian Ex-leader Berlusconi Hospitalized in ICU, but Alert

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gestures as he is discharged from Milan's San Raffaele hospital, where he was being treated after testing positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and diagnosed with mild pneumonia, in Milan, Italy, on Sept. 14, 2020. Flavio Lo Scalzo/Reuters

ROME—Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was hospitalized Wednesday in intensive care because of a problem related to a previous infection, but was alert and speaking, Italy’s foreign minister said.

The 86-year-old three-time premier was in the ICU at Milan’s San Raffaele hospital, the clinic where he routinely receives care, said Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who is also a leader of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party. Speaking from Brussels, Tajani said Berlusconi was admitted because of an “unresolved problem” related to a previous infection.