Government's swine flu site taken down by demand

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The government's swine flu website wasn't exactly the picture of health a day after launching.

Unexpectedly high traffic took out the Department of Health’s (DoH) Pandemic Flu Service website shortly after its launch yesterday

The DoH was quick to say the site was technically sound. "The National Pandemic Flu Service website has not crashed,” it said in a statement.

“It is experiencing unprecedented demand with 2,600 hits per second, equivalent to 9.3 million hits per hour.”

The site, operated by BT, suffered from an abnormal level of traffic caused mainly by public interest, and concern surrounding the subject, said a DoH spokesperson.

A spokesperson at the DoH press office said that BT has quadrupled the website’s capacity.

The DoH added that call centres (0800 1 513 513) were still working normally.

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