The latest:

Saskatchewan reported 601 new cases on COVID-19 on Thursday, the highest single-day jump the province has seen since the start of the pandemic.

Its hospitals remain under severe pressure, with a record high of 72 people with COVID-19 in intensive care. The province also reported 10 additional deaths due to the disease.

During a briefing Wednesday, Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer said it’s a “tragedy of our times” that elective and urgent surgeries are being delayed as resources and staff get redeployed to COVID-19 hospital wards.

“We’ve got a billion-dollar health-care system, one of the best … in the world that is not able