A young man who contracted the coronavirus from his brother who was the first patient diagnosed with this infection in Croatia, was released from Zagreb's Fran Mihaljevic hospital on Thursday after two consecutive negative tests, Health Minister Vili Beros said.

Earlier on Thursday, Beros announced that the first three patients were likely to be discharged in the next 48 hours provided that their second test after their recovery was negative.

According to the minister's predictions, the first patient diagnosed with coronavirus and his girlfriend can now look forward to being released from the Fran Mihaljevic Hospital for Infectious Diseases.

Croatia has registered a total of 19 positive cases since the outbreak of COVID-19. To date, 431 persons have been tested and the percentage of those with positive results stands at 4.41%.