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Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is being treated in hospital for Covid-19, The Guardian reports.

Berlusconi, who is 84 this month, was taken to the San Raffaele hospital in Milan on Thursday night as a precautionary measure. He has not been admitted to intensive care.

“He has a bit of a cough and obviously because of his age it was better that the symptoms are taken care of in hospital,” said Deborah Bergamini, a deputy with Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party.

Berlusconi was confirmed to have tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday night. At the time, his doctor, Alberto Zangrillo, the director of anesthesia and intensive care at San Raffaele hospital, said Berlusconi was asymptomatic. He had been isolating at his home in Arcore, a village close to Milan, before being hospitalised.

Corriere della Sera reported on Friday that a CT scan revealed signs of a bilateral pneumonia, so Berlusconi was kept in hospital. The newspaper said on Thursday Berlusconi told friends and colleagues he had a fever, which had passed, and felt a little tired.

In 2016, Berlusconi underwent heart surgery at the same hospital to replace a faulty aortic valve.

Berlusconi’s girlfriend, Marta Fascina, a politician with Forza Italia, has also tested positive for coronavirus, as have his son Luigi and daughter Barbara.