B.C. will spend $1.6 billion and hire 7,000 health-care workers in a bid to prevent a combination of COVID-19 and influenza from straining its health-care system this fall and winter

A key part of the strategy, announced by Premier John Horgan, Health Minister Adrian Dix and Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer

It reduces the usual demand for hospital beds by reducing seasonal flu cases, while boosting hospital surge capacity if there is a sudden influx of patients.

The plan will inject $1.6 billion into the health-care system and involve the hiring and training of 7,000 health-care workers. It aims to avoid a scenario where surgeries must be widely delayed, as the province did in the spring as part of its emergency response to the pandemic.

It will also be launching a major vaccination campaign against influenza, with the goal of vaccinating nearly two million people, compared to the yearly average of around 1.4 million.

“Our pandemic plan has been working,” said Horgan. “We need to accelerate. We need to up our game.”