Caracas.– Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's scheduled swearing-in for his new term on January 10 will be put off if his health condition does not allow it, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Friday.

Chavez can take the oath of office at a later date and "the formality of his swearing-in can be resolved in the Supreme Court," Maduro said in an interview with state TV.

According to Venezuelan press reports, Chavez, who had a fourth round of cancer surgery in Cuba on December 11, was still suffering from a "severe" lung infection that had caused breathing difficulties.