QR code system overwhelmed, suffers glitches

Registration for the quick response (QR) code for Iloilo City residents was far from smooth after the system bogged down due to the volume of registration via its official website.

Executive Assistant for Information Technology (IT) Francis Cruz admitted that the QR code system got overwhelmed by the surge of people wanting to avail of the online service.
“On the first few hours we recorded 23,000 who registered and in the next day naglab-ot na 38,000 so the system got overwhelmed because with the number we had to validate gid ang kada isa that is the reason why we decided to stop the registration yesterday,” he said in an interview with local radio station Radyo Pilipinas on Wednesday.

As of 6:30 pm Wednesday, the website remained inaccessible to city residents wanting to apply for QR codes.

“Due to the huge volume of people registering, we are temporarily suspending our registration process for individuals until such time that we have completed the verification of those currently registered individuals,” the website said.

Following the technical glitches, Cruz said a meeting was held on Wednesday morning to discuss and re-strategize their approach to effectively implement the QR code system and prevent any similar glitches.

“We will have our meeting this morning and we will re-strategize to prevent the volume of people and also to strengthen the security features of the website so there will be no possibilities of leak or hacking incidents,” he said.

As one of their initial plans, the Iloilo City government will have to reschedule the registration of the residents and working individuals staying in the metro.

According to Cruz, they will first prioritize the registration of business establishments and government offices in the metro while the registration of individuals will soon follow.

“Ma-adjust kami sa amon approach so unahon anay subong ang mga establishments kay sila gid sini ang magascan sang mga pumuluyo and padayunon lang naton ang registration sa mga residente kon matapos na sila,” he said.

The QR code system was first implemented by the Iloilo City government inside the Iloilo City Hall where employees were assigned with unique QR codes which serve as their identification card whenever they enter the premises of the building.

On Monday, Iloilo City government piloted its implementation in the entire city where individuals six years old and above who are residents, working, or visiting this city were required to register and secure their QR codes.

www.uswagtracer.com was the official website intended for the registration of the individuals applying for QR codes where they will be required to input their basic information for faster contact tracing.

A confirmation email with their codes, site access, and user manual will be sent to the registrant after the registration.

The code then will have to be printed and laminated and will be scanned upon entering establishments and other government offices in the city.

Cruz said the QR code system was meant to help in fast tracking the contact tracing of possible Covid-19 positive individuals.

With the system, the traffic of customers entering establishments will be hastened and the manual writing of basic information in papers will be a thing of the past.

“The purpose is to trace and contact mga close contacts sa isa ka positive so we will do away with the typical pagsulat sa papel gamit ang ballpen nga wala ta kabalo kon sin-o naggamit. It will save time and resources,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cruz said they are targeting to resume the online registration in two days or within the week.

Iloilo City government has not incurred any expenses for the project except for the papers used in its implementation in the City Hall as the project was developed by the Iloilo City government, he added. (ERS)