Brazil's coach Renan Dal Zotto looks on during the 2018 FIVB World Championship men's final 1-2 match Brazil vs Poland on September 30, 2018 in Turin. (Photo: AFP)

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The head coach of Brazil's national men's volleyball team, Renan Dal Zotto, has been moved to an intensive care unit as he grapples with COVID-19.

The 60-year-old, who was admitted to a hospital in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, was placed on a ventilador to aid his breathing after his condition deteriorated on Monday.

The Brazilian Volleyball Confederation (CBV) said the mechanical breathing device was needed "to maintain the highest oxygen saturation level."

"The expectation is that the coach will remain in this state for 48 to 72 hours and before the ventilator is removed," read a CBV statement.

It added that CBV vice president, Radames Lattari, was "making good clinical progress" after he was also placed in an intensive care unit last week because of the virus. Lattari is now sitting up and breathing without a ventilator, CBV said.

Dal Zotto, who has been Brazil's head coach since 2017, is a former national team player and was a part of the Brazil side that claimed a silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.