London, July 11 (IANS) Singer Cheryl Cole, who is in hospital with malaria, was just hours away from death and her recovery will take a very long time, says a friend.

The "X Factor" judge is still on oxygen, a drip and unable to talk as her fight against a deadly strain of malaria continues in a top London private hospital.

"She's not out of the woods yet," a close friend of hers said.

"We nearly lost her and the battle is far from over. She is so weak and this horrible illness has taken complete hold of her," newsoftheworld.co.uk quoted the friend as saying.

"It got so bad she was literally only hours from death's door. Thank goodness she was diagnosed in time. Even now she can't talk. She drifts in and out of consciousness and when she comes round all she can do is sob."

"There was no news coming out of the hospital because it was all so touch and go. We couldn't give any assurances to fans because there weren't any to give," the friend added.

Fans' hopes that Cheryl would recover soon were raised Friday when she was released from the specialist tropical diseases unit at London's University College Hospital and moved to a top private clinic nearby.

But our source said the star was still seriously ill.

"Seeing Cheryl like this is so painful. She could have easily died. And she's not better, she's not even close. It's still a very serious situation," said another friend.

"The fact she's been on oxygen for six days now, and is still on a drip, shows how severe things are. She has fluid in her lungs as well which they can't really treat at the moment because her blood count's so low."

"The problem is that her doctors have said her immune system is weak...She's not in any position to fight even a cold, let alone a tropical bug like this. Her recovery is going to take a very, very long time," the friend added.