Silvio Berlusconi, positive for covid-19

Silvio Berlusconi during a 2019 rally in Rome.Andrew Medichini / AP

Silvio Berlusconi, former Italian Prime Minister and owner of Mediaset, has tested positive for covid-19 and is in isolation at his Arcore mansion.

The 83-year-old magnate spent his holidays in Sardinia, one of the current sources of contagion in Italy.

In addition, he received a visit from businessman and former Formula 1 promoter Flavio Briatore, who also tested positive this summer.

Berlusconi, his own party, Forza Italia, said in a statement, is asymptomatic and is out of danger despite his advanced age.

But the entire electoral campaign will be lost in the five regions (Tuscany, Apulia, Campania, Le Marche and Veneto) where the vote will be taken on the 20th and 21st. “President Berlusconi will continue working in his residence, where he will spend the period of isolation.

And he will continue giving interviews and supporting the candidates ”.

The Billionaire, Briatore's luxurious Sardinian nightclub, became a source of contagion for the virus in August.

Only among the workers there were 58 positives and dozens more among the customers, who spent nights going to the premises without knowing that the employees were already sick.

Briatore himself, who had said that the virus was clinically dead and that they should be allowed to work in peace, was infected and was hospitalized in serious condition.

Berlusconi, upon hearing the news, underwent a double PCR on August 25 that was negative.

It was on his return to his home in Lombardy that the new test yielded a different result.

The Italian political class, despite the controversies that it has always had with the

, has turned to the networks to encourage him.

From former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to the current leader of the Democratic Party, Nicola Zingaretti, they have shown their support, wishing him to return soon to the political battle of the coming weeks.

Infections in Italy have increased again in recent days (on Wednesday there were 1,326 cases and six deaths) and the figures are already of great concern to the Government.

The goal now is to be able to go back to school by the middle of this month, as planned.

But no one is even clear on that anymore.