CoWIN crashes, restored

New Delhi: As the registration of all citizens above 18 years of age for vaccination against COVID-19 started on the CoWIN portal at 4 pm on Wednesday, many people took to social media to complain about the technical problems they faced trying to register themselves for the third phase of the inoculation drive that is scheduled to begin from May 1.

Some of them complained that the portal was not responding while others complained that it had crashed. At 4.35 pm, a tweet from the verified Twitter handle of the Aarogya Setu mobile application said the CoWIN portal is working and that there was a minor glitch at 4 pm, which was fixed.

"Cowin portal is working. There was a minor glitch at 4 pm that was fixed. 18 plus can register," it said. At 4.54 pm, a tweet from the same handle stated: "Vaccination appointments for 18 plus will be possible once the state governments and private vaccination centres schedule vaccination sessions. Registration is happening on cowin.gov.in." Registration for the newly-eligible category for COVID-19 vaccination is possible through the CoWIN platform and the Aarogya Setu app. After registration, taking an appointment to get a Covid-19 vaccine jab would be mandatory for those aged between 18 and 44 years as walk-ins will not be allowed initially, officials had said. Those above 45 years of age can still avail the facility of on-site registration to get vaccinated, they had said. As India witnesses a surge in coronavirus cases, it has decided to allow all citizens above 18 years of age to get vaccinated from May 1.

Covid infections continue to spread rapidly despite lockdowns in many parts of the country. More than 3 lakh corona cases have been reported in India for the seventh consecutive day on Wednesday. India reported a record number of 3,60,960 cases and 3,293 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry's data released on Wednesday morning.

According to the Union Health Ministry, a total of 1,79,97,267 persons have been infected with the virus since the beginning of the pandemic, out of which 1,48,17,371 people have fully recovered after defeating the virus.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced that the state has decided to vaccinate citizens in the age group of 18 to 44 against Covid-19 free of cost in government hospitals, even as a minister said the vaccination drive of this age group cannot be launched from May 1 due to unavailability of enough doses.