Former Italian prime minister and billionaire media mogul Silvio Berlusconi is back in hospital for tests, his spokesman confirmed Friday.

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

Berlusconi has been in and out of hospital all year due to complications relating to a coronavirus infection which saw him hospitalised for 11 days last September.

The former premier dominated public life in Italy for decades and he remains a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for his Forza Italia party.

But he has been set back by a string of health issues in recent years, including open-heart surgery in 2016.

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