MILAN (Reuters) – Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi left hospital on Monday after overcoming coronavirus, saying he had survived “the most dangerous challenge” of his life.

“I said to myself, with satisfaction, ‘You have got away with it again’,” a smiling Berlusconi told reporters at the gates of Milan’s San Raffaele hospital, where he was admitted on Sept. 3, after testing positive for COVID-19.

His personal doctor Alberto Zangrillo said last week that the 83-year-old media tycoon had developed pneumonia and was considered a high risk patient because of his age and underlying health conditions, including heart problems.

Zangrillo said Berlusconi would have died had he faced the same symptoms in March or April, but that doctors had learnt a lot from the initial onslaught of coronavirus and were better equipped to tackle the illness.

Berlusconi is believed to have caught the virus while on holiday in his villa on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.

“Each one of us is exposed to the risk of infecting others. I repeat my call for maximum responsibility from everyone,” said the Berlusconi.

(Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by James Mackenzie)

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