Wuhan’s couples who were eager to marry after a lockdown managed to crash the city’s marriage application system. According to Weibo, a Chinese microblogging site, the local marriage system run by Alipay, a Chinese tech platform, saw a 300 per cent increase in the number of marriage applications.

Lifting of the 76-day lockdown has led recently-freed local couples to take their relationships to a new level than taking it to a breaking point. The company, in a statement, said, “The number of visits to the applet of the wedding meeting in Wuhan exceeded expectations, by about 300 per cent …, which caused a temporary freeze. The destination system did not crash, but it can be a little slow. Just update it a few more times.”



Applications for marriage were suspended during February and March, when the city, which was the initial epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, was almost completely closed.



Alipay, in a post, also announced that they offer a service for couples to search and see what baby names have already been used by couples.



The strict lockdown allowed people to leave homes only for essential tasks like to buying food after they obtained special permission via a mandatory smartphone app, which also acted as proof that they were virus-free.



The lockdown was lifted at midnight on Wednesday, but authorities and healthcare experts have asked people not to get carried away. People have been asked to stay at home as much as possible and schools will remain closed.



Post lifting of the lockdown, as per an AP report, long lines are being seen at airports and train and bus stations as thousands wanted to get out of the city to return their homes and jobs elsewhere.

