Word lagging on old macOS as of 16.96

Since the upgrade to Version 16.96 (25041326), Word is constantly lagging in the interface, some commands aren’t responding, saving a file locally on the disk can take up to two minutes, also occasionally failing. We already lost more than one document this way.

Anyone experiencing the same? thanks

System: Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019

macOS 14.7.4