Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez leaves hospital

Garcia Marquez waved briefly at reporters outside his house on 6 March, when he celebrated his 87th birthday

The Colombian author and Nobel laureate, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, has left hospital after being treated for a lung and urinary tract infection.

The winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature, who is 87, was admitted to a Mexico City hospital on 31 March.

A spokeswoman there said his health remained fragile because of his age.

He is considered one of the greatest Spanish-language authors of all time, best known for his masterpiece of magic realism, A Hundred Years of Solitude.

The 1967 novel has sold more than 30 million copies around the world.

"His condition is delicate due to his age. He will recover at home," said Jaqueline Pineda, spokeswoman of the National Medical Sciences and Nutrition Institute where the author was being treated.

BBC Mundo's Alberto Najar in Mexico says the novelist will continue to receive treatment at his home in the Mexican capital.

"The Nobel laureate's family has given reassurances that he is doing well and his health is stable," our correspondent adds.

Garcia Marquez, who has lived in Mexico for more than 30 years, made few public appearances in recent years.

Two years ago, his younger brother admitted publicly for the first time that the author was suffering from dementia and had stopped writing.

Jaime Garcia Marquez said that Gabo, as his brother is affectionately known, often phoned to ask basic questions.

"He has problems with his memory. Sometimes I cry because I feel like I'm losing him," he said.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's other novels include Love in the Time of Cholera, Chronicle of a Death Foretold and the The General in His Labyrinth.