Call, don’t email: Singapore govt says some agencies hit by Microsoft outage, but 995, 999 and Singpass are fine

SINGAPORE, Nov 13 — The ongoing Microsoft outage has not only affected individuals and businesses, but also some Government agencies, the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) has confirmed in response to media queries.

It emphasised that emergency services remain fully operational, with emergency hotlines 995 and 999 functioning as usual.

Singpass, which is used by citizens, permanent residents and foreign identification number holders to access thousands of online and in-person Government and private-sector services, also remain unaffected.

“For updates on e-services, please check the relevant agency’s official website or social media channels,” the agency advised.

It also sought the public’s understanding that the ongoing disruption may delay responses to email enquiries, adding that members of the public can contact their required agency through other channels, such as their call centre, for urgent matters.

Meanwhile, public officers are able to use Microsoft Teams for their internal communications.

GovTech also said it is working with Microsoft to restore services as soon as possible.

“We will provide further updates when more information is available.”

According to an update posted on Microsoft’s service health status page at 12.22pm, its engineers are continuing with efforts to improve serve stability to improve traffic flow.

It added that partial recovery has been observed across regions in which earlier adjustments are applied.

“However, these actions aren’t resulting in sustained recovery, so we’re reviewing what additional actions we can take to improve overall infrastructure stability.” — AsiaOne

The Microsoft office along Cecil Street in Singapore. The US tech giant is having an outage that started November 12, 2026 that rolled on the day after which  has crippled online work for businesses and some government agencies. — Google Map screenshot