[GTranslate]Over the weekend, Canada hit a grim milestone after the country surpassed one million Covid-19 cases. Now, in the second year of battling the non-discriminating coronavirus, Canadians struggle to contain the third wave of infections.

Fueled by new variants of concern that are more transmissible, the virus appears to be affecting younger adults more seriously. The surging case numbers, specifically in Ontario, are landing more younger Ontarians in hospital. According to the Provincial Covid-19 Advisory Science Table, “the risk of ICU admission is 2× higher and the risk of death is 1.5× higher for the B.1.1.7 variant”.

As of April 4, the Case and Contact Management (CCM) recorded 494 patients in the ICU due to Covid-related critical illness, a record high since the start of the pandemic. A total of 293 of those ICU patients require the use of a ventilator.

Since April 1, daily new infections in the province have surpassed 3,000 cases for three days in a row, numbers not seen since the middle of January. The alarming rise in cases has prompted the Ford Government to implement a provincewide 4-week emergency “shutdown” (as of April 3) to curb the upward trajectory of cases.

One difference about this “shutdown”, from the one implemented during the second wave, it that Ontario is accelerating vaccination efforts across the province. To date, more than 2.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered into the arms of Ontarians.

Roughly one-quarter of those doses have been administered to Toronto citizens. To further boost vaccination efforts in the city, starting today, Toronto launches a new multilingual education campaign geared towards ethnic language groups, urging people to get vaccinated when it is their turn.

Considered one of the most multicultural cities in the world, Toronto, with a population of 2.9 million, boasts approximately 200 ethnic groups and more than 140 languages spoken throughout the city.

The “Let’s Get Vaccinated” campaign, which includes ads in English, are designed to reach as many people as possible, including those who communicate in languages other than English. The ads will now appear in the following languages: Bengali, Cantonese, Farsi, French, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tamil and Urdu.

The ads will be available through various media channels including digital, newsprint, radio and television. The idea is to spread the message to encourage citizens to get vaccinated and communicate the information in their preferred language. The vaccination strategy is just one measure to mitigate the effects of the ongoing pandemic.

In this third set of “shutdowns”, implemented as a result of the surge in new infections, Covid-19 vaccines may prove an effective strategy if enough of the community is inoculated. According to the Ministry of Health, 322,197 people in Ontario have been fully vaccinated – having received two doses. That is barely 2.2% of the population.