Editorial: Emergence of Cicada (BA.3.2) SARS-CoV-2 and the Implications for COVID-19 Surveillance and Monitoring

In 2026, infection surveillance and screening are increasingly affected by national changes to public health programs, global conflict, and limited public health resources [1]. However, the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to mutate and remains a persistent, endemic pathogen capable of causing outbreaks and epidemics, and it still has pandemic potential [2,3]. The most recent World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 Dashboard data indicate that in the 28-day period from March 30 to April 26, 2026, 62 countries across four regions reported new cases of COVID-19, with a total of 14,044 new cases, and four countries from the Americas, Europe, and South-East Asia showed an increase in new cases of more than 10% [4]. The WHO is currently tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants that include the Variant of Interest (VOI), JN.1, and four Variants Under Monitoring (VUM) that include NB.1.8.1, XFG, KP.3.1.1, and BA.3.2, with the most prevalent variant, NB.1.8.1, accounting for 42% of the submitted sequences and BA.3.2 accounting for 15% of the submitted sequences, with a recent increase in the European Region [4].

The continuous evolution of SARS-CoV-2 results in escape from existing immune responses (due to prior infection or vaccination) and maintains transmission by generating new variants with high mutation rates in the spike (S) protein (Table 1) [3,5]. The evolution of the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of SARS-CoV-2 has dominated and driven global COVID-19 pathogenesis since 2021 and continues to do so (Table 1) [3,5]. Recently, Weiss and colleagues published a study highlighting the importance of continued universal SARS-CoV-2 screening to detect asymptomatic carriers, aligning with community incidence detection and supporting infection prevention and control measures [6].

In the past few months, despite reduced infection surveillance, an emerging Omicron subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, BA.3.2 (Cicada), has been identified and received VUM status on December 5, 2025, due to its antigenic drift and reduced neutralization in vitro [3,7]. A SARS-CoV-2 VUM shows genetic changes that can affect virus characteristics but currently lack evidence of a significant impact on public health [8]. BA.3.2 (Cicada) is a descendant of the Omicron BA.3 lineage and has 70–75 mutations in the spike (S) protein [3,7]. The name “cicada” was given because the virus was initially detected in late 2024, disappeared, and re-emerged months later [3,7]. The cicada (order Hemiptera) is a large, four-winged insect that has existed since the Jurassic period (200 million years ago) and adopted a subterranean lifestyle by the mid-Cretaceous period (100 million years ago) [9]. Cicada nymphs spend either 13 or 17 years (periodical species) or 3–5 years (annual species) underground, feeding on tree root sap and emerge as adults when conditions are favorable [9].

The Cicada (BA.3.2) SARS-CoV-2 variant was first identified in South Africa on November 22, 2024, and has now been reported by at least 23 countries, resulting in ongoing morbidity and mortality worldwide [3,8]. Importantly, the Cicada (BA.3.2) SARS-CoV-2 variant has 70–75 substitutions and deletions in the spike (S) protein gene sequence relative to JN.1 variant and its descendant, LP.8.1, which were the antigens used in the 2025–26 COVID-19 vaccines [8,10]. Because BA.3.2 mutations in the S protein could reduce immunity conferred by prior infection or vaccination, there is a need for continued genomic surveillance to assess ongoing and future effects on global public health [7,8]. Currently, Cicada (BA.3.2) SARS-CoV-2 is not classified as a Variant of Concern (VOC) or as a variant that causes more severe illness, and the WHO advises that vaccines are still expected to protect against severe disease, hospitalization, and death [8]. However, as of early 2026, the BA.3.2 variant is spreading globally, and there is continued concern that it could lead to a summer surge in COVID-19 cases [3,7]. In the US, BA.3.2 (Cicada) is being monitored for its potential to cause severe COVID-19 or increased mortality compared to previous Omicron variants [3,7].

This latest Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, BA.3.2 (Cicada), has evolved over more than 5 years and follows several previously identified variants (Table 1) [3,5]. The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 (B.1.1.529) was first added to the WHO list of VOCs on November 26, 2021, and spread rapidly, prompting the WHO to publish priority prevention recommendations by January 2022 [11]. In 2021, the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 (B.1.1.529) included five lineages, BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4, and BA.5, and sublineage BA.2.12.1 with higher transmissibility and increased neutralization evasion, leading to the addition of a new tracking system category of VOC Lineages Under Monitoring (VOC-LUM) from the WHO [3,5,12]. By early January 2023, the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant (Kraken), a sublineage of the XBB variant that was a recombinant of two BA.2 sublineages, with the F486P mutation in the spike protein, was shown to have increased infectivity, resulting in 49.1% of cases of COVID-19 in the US [13]. In February 2023, EG.5 (Eris) was first reported by the WHO and designated as a VUM in July 2023, and as a VOI in August 2023. [14]. EG.5 (Eris), and its sublineages, EG.5.1, EG.5.1.1, and EG.5.2, were descendant lineages of XBB.1.9.2, which has the same spike amino acid profile as XBB.1.5 (Kraken) [3,5,14]. By the end of 2023, in the US, the most common COVID-19 cases were due to three new SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants: EG.5 (Eris) (20.6%); FL.1.5.1 (Fornax) (13.3%); and XBB.1.16 (Arcturus) (10.7%) [14]. On June 25, 2025, the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) reported a risk evaluation for two SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VUM, NB.1.8.1 (Nimbus) and XFG (Stratus) [15]. At the end of 2025, genomic analysis of the infecting SARS-CoV-2 virus identified them as the most common circulating viruses causing COVID-19 [8,15]. In just 5 years, the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has undergone rapid and varied evolution, unlike that of any other viral human pathogen, and is unlikely to cease with the latest iteration, SARS-CoV-2, BA.3.2 (Cicada) (Table 1) [3,5].

In early 2026, Jule and colleagues reported findings from a study of the evolution and properties of SARS-CoV-2, BA.3.2 (Cicada), which they believed had emerged from BA.3 in Southern Africa [16]. The fact that BA.3.2 emerged as a variant without an intermediate highlights that unmonitored, persistent infections with new SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to drive large evolutionary shifts in this virus [16]. Recently, Li and colleagues characterized BA.3.2 spike-mediated cell entry, antigenicity, and neutralization in comparison to its parental BA.3- and JN.1-derived co-circulating LP.8.1 subvariants [17]. BA.3.2 showed significantly reduced cell infectivity in vitro relative to BA.3, associated with reduced spike-mediated cell-cell fusion, and also showed evasion of neutralizing antibodies elicited by bivalent mRNA vaccination, Omicron infection [17]. Antigenic mapping confirmed divergences of BA.3.2 from the ancestral Omicron BA.3 and JN.1 variants [17. The study identified four new N-linked glycosylation sites in the N-terminal domain (NTD) and receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the S protein [17]. This study identified BA.3.2 as an immune-evasive SARS-CoV-2 variant with altered S protein properties [17]. These authors, and others, have highlighted the importance of continued monitoring of SARS-CoV-2, BA.3.2 (Cicada) and future emerging SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants, particularly during 2026 [6,17,18].

Conclusions

In the past 5 years, the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has undergone rapid and varied evolution, unlike that of any other viral human pathogen, and is unlikely to cease with the latest iteration, BA.3.2 (Cicada). The identification and characterization of SARS-CoV-2, BA.3.2 (Cicada), highlight the importance of continued monitoring and of integrating genomic surveillance with systematic phenotypic characterization to identify independently evolving Omicron lineages, understand ongoing viral adaptation, and prepare for future vaccine design to prevent epidemics and possible pandemics of COVID-19.