COVID variant BA.3.2: Symptoms, states, and what to know about the newly emerging ‘Cicada’ threat

Public health organizations including the CDC and WHO are monitoring an offshoot COVID-19 variant with a high number of mutations.

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For many people, the COVID-19 pandemic feels like a distant memory. In reality, the SARS‑CoV‑2 coronavirus is still spreading widely across the globe and continues to evolve into new variants.

Sometimes these variants are no more dangerous than the previous ones. Yet each newly discovered variant also has the potential to be more harmful than the last, which is why health organizations worldwide monitor emerging variants.

Currently, health officials are tracking a new Covid-19 variant called BA.3.2, also known as “Cicada.” Here’s what you need to know about it.

What is BA.3.2 ‘Cicada’?

BA.3.2 “Cicada” is an offshoot of a COVID-19 variant that has been circulating for over half a decade now. However, it has some properties that are attracting increased scrutiny from scientists and health organizations around the world.

Perhaps its most significant property is that it is considered a highly mutated version of the virus.

As noted in a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “BA.3.2 has approximately 70–75 substitutions and deletions in the gene sequence of the spike protein relative to JN.1 and its descendant, LP.8.1.”

JN.1 and LP.8.1 are the Covid-19 variants used in the 2025–26 versions of the COVID-19 vaccines. Because of BA.3.2’s high number of mutations, the new variant has “the potential to reduce protection from a previous infection or vaccination,” according to the CDC.

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