Information access at the time of COVID-19 pandemics is hampered by the amount and the reliability of information, as well as the many languages in which the information is provided. Language technologies can help. The COVID-19 MLIA initiative, endorsed by the European Commission's DG CNECT and coordinated by the University of Padua and ELRA/ELDA, has been launched in June 2020 to improve Multilingual Information Access in this specific context.