‘Cicada’ BA.3.2 spreading
A divergent Omicron descendant nicknamed ‘Cicada’ (BA.3.2) has been reported in 23 countries and carries roughly 75 mutations — early signals suggest it may better evade antibody protection. Authorities say it’s spreading in the U.K. and U.S., though no clear increase in disease severity has been reported so far. (emjreviews.com) (indianexpress.com) (the-independent.com)
WHO’s TAG‑VE formally listed BA.3.2 as a Variant Under Monitoring on December 5, 2025, citing an earliest sequenced sample from November 22, 2024. (cdn.who.int) Phylodynamic analysis places BA.3.2’s emergence between December 2023 and July 2024, and the lineage has already split into two sublineages, BA.3.2.1 and BA.3.2.2, each carrying two additional spike mutations. (cdn.who.int) One sublineage carries P681R near the furin‑cleavage site — a substitution known from Delta to increase spike cleavage and cell‑cell fusion in experimental studies, which WHO flagged as biologically notable. (cdn.who.int) CDC genomic surveillance notes BA.3.2’s spike differs substantially from the antigens used in the 2025–26 vaccines (JN.1 and LP.8.1), and reports roughly 70–75 spike substitutions/deletions relative to those vaccine antigens. (cdc.gov) The U.S. timeline shows the first BA.3.2 detection in CDC traveller‑based surveillance on June 27, 2025, with the first clinical specimen collected January 5, 2026, and wastewater sampling returned BA.3.2 signals in hundreds of U.S. surveillance samples. (cdc.gov) WHO’s initial risk evaluation states that, despite marked reductions in neutralizing titres in some lab assays, currently approved vaccines are still expected to protect against severe disease and no signal of increased hospitalisations or deaths has been observed. (cdn.who.int) CDC says it is using a multimodal genomic surveillance approach (wastewater, traveller and clinical sequencing) to track BA.3.2’s spread, and recent U.S. reporting indicates detections across multiple states as surveillance picks up more sequences. (cdc.gov)
