From North America, have Windows 10, and about 24 hours ago this happened to me as well. Just like OP, everything has been running smoothly for months until getting an auto-update when reopening Java Minecraft Launcher. Didn't get any messages about vcruntime140.dll or msvcp140.dll being missing, instead just straight up shows me the 0xc000007b error. I've tried repairing and removing the launcher with the MinecraftInstaller.msi, manually deleting it myself and reinstalling, restarting my computer—and most permutations of the above, but nothing works.
EDIT: Just downloaded Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 as per other issue solutions suggest. Tried vc_redist.x64.exe first—didn't work, got 0x80070666 error. Tried vc_redist.x86.exe and it worked! Clicked minecraft launcher, it resumed updating, then successfully opened. Still not sure if the problem was in my computer or in the launcher, but this immediate solution works.
From North America, have Windows 10, and about 24 hours ago this happened to me as well. Just like OP, everything has been running smoothly for months until getting an auto-update when reopening Java Minecraft Launcher. Didn't get any messages about vcruntime140.dll or msvcp140.dll being missing, instead just straight up shows me the 0xc000007b error. I've tried repairing and removing the launcher with the MinecraftInstaller.msi, manually deleting it myself and reinstalling, restarting my computer—and most permutations of the above, but nothing works.
EDIT: Just downloaded Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 as per other issue solutions suggest. Tried vc_redist.x64.exe first—didn't work, got 0x80070666 error. Tried vc_redist.x86.exe and it worked! Clicked minecraft launcher, it resumed updating, then successfully opened. Still not sure if the problem was in my computer or in the launcher, but this immediate solution works.