Photo: whtv.com.cn

Some residents in Central China's Hubei Province, especially the elderly, are struggling to register with the newly unveiled health rating system for individuals, which would allow some to travel freely amid regional lockdowns due to the coronavirus outbreak. Some have even found it impossible to login to the system due to overwhelming numbers of applicants.

Hubei on Tuesday rolled out a color-coded health rating system for individuals in the province, encouraging people with low health risks to return to work, as the province sees an easing in the epidemic.

The health code classifies residents as healthy (green), close contact with confirmed cases (yellow), and confirmed cases, suspected cases, or showing symptoms including fever (red), according to a notice posted on the Hubei government's website.

Locals can register through an app called Ehuiban or through WeChat's mini program, sub-applications within the WeChat ecosystem, or via Alipay's mini program to provide personal information. After the information is verified by the province's relevant database, the system would directly generate an exclusive QR code for each person, serving as an electronic voucher for free travel.

Since the outbreak, city of Wuhan and Hubei provincial authorities have implemented strict containment measures, putting about 58 million people in lockdown as part of efforts to curb the spread of the virus.

However, some middle-aged and elderly residents have struggled to register online, as some are not familiar with mini programs. "I've been trying to register online but I could not get access to the system," a local resident surnamed Zhu in Yichang, Central China's Hubei Province, told the Global Times.

"Maybe there are too many people applying for the QR codes, overloading the system," he said.

A white-collar worker surnamed Chen in Wuhan, who has been working from home since the outbreak, told the Global Times she has not even applied for the new health code. "No one told us how to work with it, and I'm not sure if I could leave my residential area tomorrow if I have this code.

"I think authorities will lift restrictions gradually as a large flow of people could also bring risks of renewed transmission," she said.

Green code holders in low and medium-risk areas can travel freely within the province, yellow code holders are not allowed to travel, and red code holders should be kept in quarantine or be hospitalized for treatment.