Zoom fixes global outage that disrupted Downing Street briefing

Daily coronavirus update had to be delayed

Zoom says it has fixed the issue that prevented the users of its videoconferencing app from joining meetings on Sunday.

"Our team is investigating the root cause of issues joining Zoom Meetings. These issues appear to be limited to a subset of users," the company stated in an update on its website, just before 10AM Eastern Time.

It further said that users of the app "should now be able to host, join, and participate in Zoom Meetings and Zoom Video Webinars if they restart their sessions."

Zoom said it was monitoring its systems to ensure that there is "no further operational impact".

Earlier on Sunday, thousands of users in UK and the US reported issues in joining and hosting meetings on Zoom's videoconferencing platform. The service issues started around 7AM Eastern Time, and the glitch was eventually fixed about three hours later.

Some users complained of sound issues, while others said that they were not able to see the videos. Some also reported issues in accessing the chat function on Zoom app.

The outage affected the daily cornonavirus update from Downing Street. It also prevented many Zoom users from live streaming Sunday church services. In recent days, some churches in the US have started using the videoconferencing tool to hold virtual services amid coronavirus outbreak.

Zoom usage has increased dramatically in recent months as millions of people currently stay indoors following lockdowns imposed as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.

People are using the app to keep in touch with their office teammates, as well as, to socialise with their loved ones amid social distancing restrictions.

Last month, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan revealed that Zoom user base had soared from 10 million active users in December 2019 to 300 million active users in March 2020.

But, the company was not well-prepared for that kind of surge, as evidenced by various security issues reported in Zoom software in recent months. It was also accused of disclosing users' data to Facebook without receiving prior consent from users.

Following so much criticism from users and security experts, CEO Yyan announced last month that the company would stop the work on development of new features for its app and would rather focus on security and privacy issues impacting the app.