South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela, who was hospitalized for almost three weeks last month, has recovered from his surgical procedure and the lung infection, the Presidency said on Sunday.

"Mandela has made steady progress and that clinically, he continues to improve," the Presidency quoted his doctors as saying.

Mandela was discharged from hospital on Dec. 26 after undergoing an operation to remove gallstones and treatment of a recurring lung infection.

"He continues to receive high care at his Houghton home and his daily routine is being gradually re-established," the Presidency said in a statement.

Mandela, 94, was flown to a hospital in Pretoria from his native village of Qunu in Eastern Cape province on Dec. 8,

starting his longest stay in hospital since 2001 when he underwent seven weeks of radiotherapy after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Mandela served as South African president from 1994 to 1999, the first ever to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before being elected president, he served 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island off Cape Town.

Towards the end of his prison term, he developed tuberculosis, which is blamed for the recurrence of his latest lung infection.