BOGOTA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Colombian Ministry of Health and Social Protection announced on Saturday that the country had reached 1,007,711 cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), while the death toll rose to 30,000.

The Colombian Ministry of Health and Social Protection announced on Saturday that the country had reached 1,007,711 cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), while the death toll rose to 30,000. (File photo: CFP)

The ministry reported that in the last 24 hours, 8,769 new cases of the disease were reported, most of them in the Colombian capital of Bogota with 2,531 cases, in the department of Antioquia with 1,864 cases, and in the Valle del Cauca region with 631.

Additionally, 198 patients died from the disease in the last 24 hours.

Active cases grew to 68,008 while the number of recovered patients rose from 901,652 to 907,379.

The ministry stated that another 35,947 PCR tests and 14,446 antigen tests for the disease were carried out over the last day.

Colombia is the third country in Latin America with more than one million cases, behind Brazil and Argentina.