Doctors in South Africa are keeping former president Nelson Mandela in the hospital as he recovers from gallstone surgery and treatment for a lung infection.
A statement from the South African presidency Tuesday said doctors are satisfied the 94-year-old Mandela icon is making progress "consistent with his age."
It says there is "no crisis" but that doctors do not want to send him home "until they are satisfied that he has made sufficient progress."
The anti-apartheid icon was admitted to a Pretoria hospital on December 8. He underwent surgery to remove gallstones this past Saturday after being treated earlier for a recurring lung infection.
South Africa's minister of public service and administration Lindiwe Sisulu, a family friend of the Mandelas, said she is confident Mandela is doing well.
"We are constantly in touch with them, and I wouldn't be here if I had any outstanding worries about his health," said Sisulu.
Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj says he met with Mandela Tuesday and that the former president is looking "much better."
Mandela, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, became South Africa's first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in prison for his opposition to apartheid.
He has grown frail and has made few public appearances in recent years.