Annabel Rhodes is breathing without the help of a ventilator and is fully conscious. A hospital spokesman said: "She is much, much better."

Her father Mark ordered the drink for his daughter from a hotel bar on the holiday island and asked for it to be diluted with water. Police said a 43-year-old bar man at the Curium Palace Hotel in Limassol accidentally used cleaning fluid instead. The toddler suffered serious injuries to her throat and stomach.

A spokesman for the Archbishop Makarios Hospital in Nicosia said: "She is much, much better. She came off the ventilator on Tuesday, and is receiving intravenous fluids. She is fully conscious." He added: "The youngster is still unable to speak because of her injuries."

Mr Rhodes, 55, has been at his daughter's bedside since the incident on Saturday afternoon. She was taken to hospital by ambulance at 6.45pm, police said.

Staff at the four-star, 1950s boutique hotel near the seafront in the centre of Limassol were tight-lipped about the incident. The manager was unavailable for comment.

Police on the island have not ruled out arrests. A spokesman said none had been made, but police were continuing to investigate.

Detectives believe the clear cleaning fluid was kept in a plastic bottle and then mistaken for water by the member of staff. According to local media reports the substance was nitric acid, which is highly corrosive if ingested.

A police spokesman said: "Her father asked the 43-year-old barman to put water in her glass of orange juice. Instead he gave her something else, some cleaning fluid."

Mr Rhodes and his wife Judith, 32, are from Paddington, west London, according to reports. Mr Rhodes has asked for "total privacy" in a "highly emotional and difficult time".