CoWIN, India's registration portal for Covid-19 vaccination which crashed minutes after it was opened to those aged between 18 and 45 on Wednesday, is now back online. Nearly 80 lakh people registered for vaccinations on the first day.
ore than 1.32 crore people applied for Covid-19 vaccination on Wednesday as the government's portal, CoWIN, opened for registration on Wednesday for all citizens above 18 years of age. The government said 1,32,67,272 people registered for vaccinations on the first day.
Minutes after registration commenced at 4 pm, the portal crashed on Wednesday. Glitches were also reported on the Aarogya Setu App. Both platforms were later back online, allowing those eligible to register for the life-saving jab.
Those looking to register for inoculation starting May 1 took to social media to share their experiences with the portal. "We have seen a traffic of 55,000 hits per second. System functioning as expected," said National Health Authority chief RS Sharma.
As registrations opened at 4 pm, complaints poured in from people who were unable to load the CoWIN website or not receiving OTPs to log in to the platform.
Those who did get the OTPs reported that they were unable to type the OTP on the portal's website.
CEO of the National Health Authority, RS Sharma, told media outlets on Wednesday, "On many days, we have had around 5 million people registering in a day. We expect more than double that number today."
"We think our system will be able to take the load when registrations open today," Sharma said.
Sharma had told India Today earlier this month, "Only registrations will happen on April 28. Registrations with documents and IDs."
"This phase onwards, Centre will not be responsible for non-booking of appointments at designated vaccination centres. For private vaccinations, that would be the responsibility of private hospitals. First-aid vaccination at centres would be the responsibility of the states. Vaccinations for those above the age of 45 and 60 will continue as per usual at designated vaccination centres of the government," RS Sharma had said.
Earlier this month, the central government made it mandatory for those aged between 18 and 45 to register themselves on one of the two portals in order to get vaccinated. No walk-ins will be allowed in the initial stages of the third phase, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
India started its nationwide inoculation drive on January 16 of this year. More than 14 crore doses of the two Covid-19 vaccines approved for emergency use - Covaxin and Covishield - have been administered across the country to date. A number of states have made vaccination free of cost for those aged between 18 and 45.
Healthcare and frontline workers were vaccinated in the first phase, with the central government bearing the expense of the life-saving jabs. In the second phase, vaccinations were opened for those aged 45 and above.
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