[Update: Back online] Phase 3 vaccination: Users complain as CoWIN and Aarogya Setu stop working

UPDATE - 4:45 PM

The government has issued an update via the Aarogya Setu Twitter handle that stated the issue had been fixed and registrations were back on, around half an hour after the issues were first spotted. Calling it a “minor glitch” the Twitter handle has stated that registrations for users above the age of 18 are back on track.

Original story

The registrations for the third phase of vaccinations in the country began at 4PM today, but two portals that were supposed to be carrying out the registrations have reportedly gone down, according to agitated users on Twitter. 

While the registrations for the vaccine for citizens above the age of 18 began at 4PM, the CoWIN website as well as the Aarogya Setu app have both started to display errors for several users who are unable to sign up, login or register a slot on the portals.

Missing OTPs, inability to load the website, Aarogya Setu app crashes, these are some of the few issues mentioned by users on Twitter while trying to register on the government's portal. Other users are reporting that despite being able to register successfully, they are unable to book a slot as the site still offers slots only for users above 45 years of age. 

We were able to access the CoWIN website ourselves, but the Aarogya Setu app appears to have an issue with registration, at least when it comes to new users. The government later issued an update via the Aarogya Setu Twitter handle that stated the issue had been fixed and registrations were back on, around half an hour after the issues were first spotted.