Zanardi moved back to intensive care unit as condition worsens

Alex Zanardi was transferred back to an intensive care unit in Milan on Friday following a worsening of the Italian driver's condition.

Last week, Zanardi was moved from the Santa Maria alle Scotta hospital in Siena, where the 53-year-old was being treated for severe head injuries sustained last month in a handbike accident, to a specialized rehabilitation center in the province of Lecco.

The development was viewed as a positive event and a first step in the former F1 driver's recovery process.

• Zanardi transferred to specialized rehabilitation center

But a sudden deterioration of Zanardi's condition compelled the Italian's doctors to order a transfer back to intensive care.

Claudio Zanado, the health director of the Valduce Hospital in Como, stated in a bulletin released on Friday:

"Today, in the face of the instability of the clinical conditions of patient Alex Zanardi, and after appropriate consultations with Dr. Franco Molteni, head of the Department of Specialist Rehabilitation Villa Beretta where the patient had been hospitalized since July 21, and the reference specialists, the transfer of the athlete was ordered," wrote Zanado.

“Adequate means and adequate assistance were used at the Intensive Care Department of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan.

"As of now, it is specified that no further information on the case will be released."

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