Italy's former premier Silvio Berlusconi has been moved from the intensive care unit but will remain hospitalised, the Corriere della Sera daily said on Sunday.

The 86-year-old has been in intensive care at Milan's San Raffaele hospital since April 5. He has leukaemia and is suffering from a lung infection but last Thursday doctors said he had shown steady improvement.

On Sunday he "was transferred to a normal care unit", the daily wrote, citing sources close to his family.

Berlusconi has chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML), a rare type of blood cancer affecting mainly older adults, according to his doctors.

The three-time prime minister and billionaire media magnate has dominated Italian public life for decades.

Berlusconi is currently a senator and his right-wing Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's coalition government, although he rarely appears in public.

He has been in and out of hospital in recent years, notably after contracting COVID in 2020. 

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