On today's chart 77K views since yesterday

Microsoft outage disrupts NHS systems and councils, Sky reports

Rowland Manthorpe explains how a possible software-update problem could have cascaded into hours of disruption across continents.

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Sky News Story of November 13, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of the most watched videos since yesterday, with 76,556 views.

Microsoft outage latest: Users in at least 74 countries worldwide impacted

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0:20The timeline traces Thursday's initial problems through overnight attempts to restore services.
1:04A Downdetector map shows outage reports across 74 countries.
1:20Microsoft's statements describe system stabilisation and continuing recovery efforts.
2:02UK impacts include emergency contact forms, councils, schools and NHS systems such as Rapid Health.
3:25Manthorpe suggests a software update triggered a traffic surge that contributed to cascading failures.
4:09Manthorpe puts the outage's duration at around sixteen hours and compares it with previous incidents.

Emergency contact forms, council services, schools and NHS systems are among the UK services disrupted by Microsoft's global outage, Sky News reports. The broadcaster's update moves beyond inaccessible inboxes to show how a failure in familiar workplace software reaches public services.

Outlook, Teams and Copilot are affected, according to Sky. Its report follows the disruption from Thursday afternoon through overnight attempts to restore services, then maps reports across much of the world using Downdetector. Microsoft says its systems are stabilising and recovery work is continuing.

The update has drawn about 77,000 views in its first three hours. For readers trying to understand what has stopped working, its most practical section identifies UK impacts, including the NHS system Rapid Health, rather than treating the outage as an email problem alone.

Technology correspondent Rowland Manthorpe then offers a possible explanation. "It seems as if some kind of software update caused a surge of traffic to their systems," he says. He describes traffic congestion contributing to a cascading failure, while keeping the proposed cause tentative.

By the time of his appearance, Manthorpe says the disruption has lasted around sixteen hours, an unusually long stretch for a major global outage. Sky has also posted a separate cause explainer and a questions-and-answers broadcast for people encountering problems.

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