Brazil's Bolsonaro in hospital with intestinal blockage

President Bolsonaro, seen here during a ceremony last November, was stabbed in the abdomen in 2018

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has been hospitalised with an intestinal blockage after falling ill on holiday.

The president posted a photo from his hospital bed on Twitter, saying doctors had inserted a nasogastric tube and were evaluating potential surgery.

Doctors said on Monday that his condition was improving.

Mr Bolsonaro, 66, has been admitted to hospital several times since being stabbed in the abdomen during his 2018 presidential campaign.

In his tweet, the president said he had started feeling unwell on Sunday afternoon after lunch. He was flown from the southern state of Santa Catarina, where he was vacationing, to urgently be admitted to the Vila Nova Star hospital in São Paulo.

Television images showed the president walking down the stairs of the presidential plane after landing in the early hours of Monday.

Mr Bolsonaro said that the symptoms were the same ones that had led to a four-day hospitalisation in July, saying the stabbing was the root cause of his health problems. Mr Bolsonaro was seriously wounded in the attack and has had at least four operations since.

In a statement reported by Reuters later on Monday, doctors said his condition was improving but it was not yet known if he would need further surgery.

The far-right president, who took office in 2019, plans to run for re-election in a vote scheduled to take place in October. His popularity has plummeted in recent months, amid his government's widely criticised response to the pandemic and the country's economic downturn.

• PROFILE: Brazil's unlikely president

Last month the president came under criticism for not interrupting his beach vacation while floods swept through the north-eastern state of Bahia, killing at least 25 people. He posted videos of himself jet-skiing through crowds of cheering supporters.