NEW DELHI (AP) — The Dalai Lama has almost recovered from a chest infection and is likely to leave a New Delhi hospital in a day.

His spokesman Tenzin Taklha says the 83-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader is feeling much better.

The Dalai Lama flew from Dharmsala for consultations with doctors in the Indian capital and was hospitalized on Tuesday.

Takhla said on Thursday that the spiritual leader is likely to return soon to the north Indian hill town that has been his headquarters since he fled Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The Dalai Lama usually spends several months a year traveling the world to teach Buddhism and highlight the Tibetans' struggle for greater freedom in China. But he has cut down on travel in the past year.