Two daughters and one grandchild of Brazilian soccer legend Pele announced that his health condition poses no danger as he was merely hospitalized due to a respiratory infection that required treatment after it was aggravated by COVID-19.

His daughter, Kely Nascimento, said in an interview with the Brazilian TV Globo, that “he is sick, he is old. But at the moment, he is there because of a lung infection. And once he feels better, he will go home again.”

"He is not saying goodbye in a hospital at the moment,'' she added.

“It is very unfair for people to say he is at the end of his life, in palliative care. Guys, that's not true. Believe us,” Pele’s other daughter Flavia said.

“He is not in intensive care, he is in a regular bedroom. He is not at risk, he is in treatment,” she added.

For his part, Pele’s grandson, Arthur Arantes do Nascimento, said, “I see people telling me 'rest in peace' (for Pele). One day it will happen, but it is not today.”

“He is going to be well, it is a matter of time. He will see Brazil lift the sixth title.”

Pele, who was hospitalized this week amid ongoing cancer treatments, "has had a good response to care without any worsening in the clinical picture in the last 24 hours," doctors at Sao Paulo's Albert Einstein Hospital said in a statement.

Doctors made no reference to media reports earlier on Saturday that the three-time World Cup winner, widely regarded as the greatest footballer of all time, was receiving end-of-life care.

Pele was admitted to hospital earlier this week for what doctors said was a "re-evaluation" of the chemotherapy he has been undergoing since surgery to remove a colon tumor in September last year.