Global IT outage livestream: Microsoft hit by CrowdStrike issue causes “largest IT outage in history” – World News

Keir Starmer is being urged to call an emergency COBRA meeting over the global IT outage.

The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to hold a COBRA meeting to coordinate an emergency response to the IT outage, which is causing major disruption to airlines, railways, clinics and more.

Liberal Democrat cabinet office spokeswoman Christine Jardine MP said: “The Government must convene an emergency COBRA meeting to address the disruption caused by the IT outage across the country.”

“The public need to be reassured that there will be minimal disruption to travel and urgently needed GP appointments. Getting our critical infrastructure up and running again must be the top priority. The National Cyber ​​Security Centre must work with small businesses and other organisations to help them deal with the outage.”

“This incident once again highlights the need to improve our digital infrastructure and truly modernize our economy to prevent such an incident from happening again.”

Travellers waiting to depart from the UK have described “huge chaos” at Gatwick Airport.

Dean Seddon told the PA news agency he started queuing at 6am ahead of his scheduled 10am departure on a North Atlantic flight to check in for a trip to Miami, Florida with a social media training company.

“Everywhere is packed and there are about 400 people in the queue at the check-in counter where I am,” he said. “It’s total chaos. I know I can’t get on the plane but I don’t know and I don’t want to leave.”

American Airlines said this morning that the flight had safely resumed operations after experiencing a “technical issue.”

“Earlier this morning, a technical issue with a vendor affected multiple airlines, including American Airlines. As of 5:00 a.m. ET, we were able to safely resume operations and apologize to our customers for any inconvenience,” the airline said in a statement.

The NHS has confirmed that most GP practices across England were affected by a power outage this morning.

An NHS spokesman said: “The NHS is aware of a global IT outage and issues with EMIS, our booking and patient record system, which is causing disruption to the majority of GP practices.

“The NHS has had measures in place for many years to manage the disruption, such as the use of paper patient records, handwritten prescriptions and the normal telephone system for contacting GPs.

“At present there are no known impacts to 999 or emergency services so people can continue to use these services as normal.

“Patients should attend appointments unless instructed otherwise. Please only contact your GP if it’s an emergency, otherwise please use 111 online or call 111.”

Manchester United is among the clubs affected by a global IT outage which has led to ticket sales being halted.

A number of other clubs, including Premier League rivals Crystal Palace, have taken a similar stance.

A number of EFL clubs have also confirmed via social media that they are affected, with clubs north of the border also being hampered by the issue.

Long queues are currently occurring at train stations in the UK, with passengers being seen queuing on platforms at Waterloo station.

Train stations in central London are packed with people and people are reportedly unable to travel today as ticket machines are inaccessible. Waterloo station serves several London airports, which are also experiencing major delays this morning.

Dr Farah Jameel, a GP at the Museum Practice in central London, told the PA news agency she does not have access to patient records, imaging results, medication histories or blood test results.

“We are still evaluating how this will impact our practice. We currently do not have access to patient records and are attempting to assess patients on an individual basis.”

“We don’t have access to blood test results, imaging results or medical histories, and clinical documentation work is expected to pile up throughout the day. Simple management plans like scheduling tests or taking regular medications cannot be made, disrupting patient care pathways.”

“We are operating a clinical triage system to ensure patient safety and see those with the greatest clinical need. All other patients who can safely wait will be deferred to another day.”

Dr Jameel also emphasised how “dangerous” the disruption was. She added: “I think we need to emphasise the clinical impact of what a significant interruption this IT disruption has caused to clinical care. This is dangerous.”

A spokesman for easyJet, Britain’s largest airline by passenger numbers, advised passengers departing from Spanish airports to arrive three hours before their flight due to the IT outage.

She said: “EasyJet’s IT systems have not been directly affected by this morning’s Microsoft system issue, but we are aware that systems at a number of airports across Europe have been affected.”

“This is causing some disruption to flights this morning and we expect there may be further impacts to flights today.

“Customers should expect longer than usual queues at the airport and we advise passengers travelling from Spanish airports to arrive three hours before their flight.”

“We encourage all customers due to travel with us today to continue checking the easyJet flight tracker for the latest flight updates before heading to the airport.

“This is beyond our control, but we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Glasgow Airport is one of the few UK airports not affected by the IT problems, the airport said in a statement today.

The airline said in a post on X that a “small number” of its airlines had moved to manual check-in. The airport said it was “largely unaffected by the current global IT issue. At this time a small number of airlines have moved to manual check-in and some retailers are only accepting cash payments.”

The IT outage has caused widespread disruption to the transport sector, with train ticket machines also not functioning.

Pictures posted from the station show machines displaying the dreaded “blue screen” that was experienced by Windows users this morning.

The National Pharmacists’ Association (NPA) has confirmed that the IT outage is causing disruption to community pharmacies.

A spokesman said: “We understand that local pharmacy services, such as obtaining prescriptions from GPs and medicine delivery, are being disrupted today due to a global IT outage. We ask patients to be patient when visiting their pharmacy. We are raising the issue with NHS England as an urgent matter.”

Pictures show the chaos caused by a major power outage at a Spanish airport.

Spain’s airports association, AENA, reported problems with long queues of people heading for delayed flights at the 42 airports under its control.

In a statement this morning, United Airlines blamed the outage on “third-party software.”

In a statement to the BBC, the world’s fifth-largest airline said it had chosen to keep all its aircraft at their departure airports.

The statement read, “A third-party software issue is affecting computer systems around the world, including those at United Airlines. All aircraft are remaining at their departure airports while we work to restore systems. Flights already in the air are continuing to their destinations.”

An IT glitch this morning forced two German hospitals to cancel emergency surgeries.

Hospitals in the northern German cities of Lübeck and Kiel have cancelled all elective surgeries scheduled for today. University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein said it had decided to continue treating patients and providing emergency services.

Edinburgh Airport has said passengers should not travel without checking the status of their flight as they may face long waiting times.

In an update, the airport said passengers should check the status of their flights with the relevant airlines and that waiting times had increased to “approximately one hour”.

“Passengers are advised not to go to the airport without first checking the status of their flight with their airline. Due to the power outage, waiting times at security checkpoints are currently around one hour and our teams are doing their best to manage this,” the statement read.