Minecraft PS4 freezes at the loading screen showing the Nether

After the recent Nether update, when I go to load Minecraft the game progresses to the splash screen showing the Nether.  A dialogue box pops up, displaying information about the update. Shortly after this, the game freezes. The PS4 controller was  it touched during the entire loading process. I have heard anecdotally that uninstalling and reinstalling the game may offer a temporary solution, but am concerned that this will eradicate my progress on the game to date.