Wuhan couples BOMBARD marriage application app as coronavirus lockdown is lifted
One might think a pandemic-induced lockdown would push most couples to breaking point, but recently-liberated lovers in Wuhan are bucking the trend, almost crashing the Chinese app used for online marriage applications.
After the 76-day lockdown was fully lifted on Wednesday, the marriage application system within the Alipay app experienced a 300-percent surge in marriage applications, the company said.
“The number of visits to the wedding appointment applet in Wuhan exceeded expectations, about 300 percent... which caused a temporary freeze. The appointment system did not collapse, but it may be a bit slow. Just refresh it a few more times,” the company said.
Traffic to Alipay's wedding booking mini-program surged fourfold over pre-holiday visits on the first day of the lifting of the #Wuhan lockdown, thus inducing a temporary logjam, @Alipay said on its account on China’s Twitter-like Weibo today. pic.twitter.com/WOdg5sizv2
— Yicai Global 第一财经 (@yicaichina) April 8, 2020
Marriage applications had been suspended throughout February and March as the city of 11 million residents, which was the original epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, shut down almost entirely.
The company claimed the surge in traffic and applications ground its system to a halt for a time but the issue has already been fixed, paving the way for an impending marital monsoon as the city’s lovers celebrate their liberation in the most romantic way possible.
Also on rt.com Making a comeback: Wuhan aglow as outbound travel ban lifted & residents flock to train stations (PHOTO, VIDEO)Wedded couples-to-be must hold a clean health code, which proves their coronavirus-free status, in order to make a marriage registration appointment.
Alipay, one of the most widely-used payment platforms in China, claims it “didn’t expect the strong demand for marriage services after an earlier surge in divorce appointments.”
People can also reportedly check what baby names are trending online using the app, just on the off-chance that temptation proved too much during the 24/7 lockdown.
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