Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro waves to people during the celebration for the 198th anniversary of the country's Independence Day in Brasilia, Brazil, Sept. 7, 2020. (Photo by Lucio Tavora/Xinhua)

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Tuesday he was "ready for combat" after being discharged from hospital, where he spent the night after taking ill.

The former army captain, 67, maintained his previously scheduled agenda, traveling from Brasilia to the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in the central-west for an official ceremony.

"I just had a bad night," said the far-right president, who comes up for reelection in October.

"I'm ready for combat," he said in a video posted on Twitter by his communications minister, who had earlier announced Bolsonaro's release from hospital, saying the president was "doing very well."

The president's office did not respond to requests from AFP for details on the incident.

Newspaper Globo reported it was caused by "problems passing food from the stomach to the intestines."

Bolsonaro has had recurring health problems since being stabbed in the abdomen during his 2018 presidential campaign.

He was admitted to a military hospital on Monday night to undergo tests, missing a planned appearance at an event held by Brazil's Republican Party, which is allied with him.

It was the latest health scare for the president since September 2018, when an attacker stabbed then-candidate Bolsonaro in the abdomen at a campaign rally in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

Bolsonaro lost some 40 percent of his blood and underwent emergency surgery after the near-fatal attack, perpetrated by a man later declared mentally unfit to stand trial.

"The consequences of the attempted homicide... continue to cause my father health problems," tweeted Bolsonaro's son Senator Flavio Bolsonaro late Monday. "But evil has never and will never win against good," he added.

AFP