What's going on ?

So have countless others.

Seems like it is useless to apply anywhere without a referral

I got interviewed at a company this Friday. Today asked HR for the update and he says feedback is positive but they have kept all positions in the company on hold now.

How do you know the application went through? No email confirmation comes, just a pop-up comes which says “profile shared with job poster”. Isn’t it? I doubt the application actually gets applied.