Luciano Pavarotti's doctors are feeling "positive" about the singer's condition, his wife has confirmed.

The Italian tenor, 71, was admitted to hospital earlier this week, when he started suffering from a high fever.

"He is calm, he is talking and joking," Pavarotti's wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, told reporters outside the hospital in Modena, Italy, yesterday. "The doctors are very positive." She added that he is expected to be discharged within the next few days.

Luciano was forced to cancel his farewell tour last year, as he needed to have an operation to remove a pancreatic tumour.