Coronavirus: Vaccination portal fails to open due to technical problem (updated)

The vaccination portal failed to open on Thursday due to a technical problem and will remain closed today.

The portal was due to open at 7.30 am for the age group of 35 to 36.

Deputy minister for innovation Kyriakos Kokkinos told CyBC radio that there was a technical problem which the provider – the IT company in charge of the Gesy portal –  and the deputy ministry were working to fix.

“This was not due to an overload. The portal did not open,” Kokkinos said.

On at least two occasions in the past, the portal had crashed because of an overload as multiple users tried to gain access in order to book an appointment for the same person. This was changed, and as from today, only one user per person can access the portal at any time.

Kokkinos said that once the technical issue is resolved, an announcement will be issued with the time when the portal will reopen.

In a written statement, the deputy ministry said that the portal was ‘temporarily out of operation.’

“The deputy ministry is working intensively, in cooperation with the contractor company, to immediately resolve the problem,” the announcement added.

It later issued another announcement that the portal will remain closed today.

According to the health ministry, the total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered until Tuesday was 307,698. 31.9 per cent (235,919 people) were vaccinated with the first dose of licensed vaccines, while 9.9 per cent (71,779 people) completed their vaccinations.

It is expected that by the end of June more than 60 per cent of the population will be covered.

Currently the focus is on the age group from 30 to 39.

“The results of vaccinations have begun to be seen in Cyprus, with a dramatic reduction in hospital admissions for the elderly,” the health ministry announced.

84.8 per cent of people aged 80 and over have received at least the first jab, while for the age group from 70 to 79 years the vaccination coverage is 80.5 per cent.

An increase has also been recorded for the age group from 60 to 69, with the coverage rate reaching 58.4 per cent.