New Covid strain sweeping UK ‘could be most dangerous to kids’ | UK | News

A new COVID strain, which has been named after an insect, is set to become dominant in the UK and could disproportionately affect children, a leading microbiologist has warned. The BA.3.2 variant is part of the Omicron family and has been dubbed ‘Cicada’ because it disappeared for nearly four years, like cicadas, which have the ability to lie dormant.

It demonstrates a heightened ability to bypass existing immune defences due to approximately 75 mutations within its spike protein – the specific component the virus uses to enter human cells. Scientists have said Cicada can spread faster than other variants, and one of the UK’s top microbiologists has revealed emerging evidence that it could spread most in children with no COVID immunity, increasing the risk of a new wave. Professor Ravi Gupta, of Cambridge University, who advised the Government during the pandemic, said: “This is different from the (Covid-19) viruses we have been dealing with for the last two years. »

“It has been found in the UK, has been increasing in prevalence, and I would expect it to become the dominant strain. BA.3.2 is undergoing testing right now, » Prof Gupta added. « We have been looking at it in terms of immune evasion and the immunity that we’ve all got.”

Prof Gupta was a key member of the research group that reported the first evidence of immune escape in COVID-19 during the pandemic. He was part of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG).

The Cicada variant is a descendant of the Omicron variant that emerged in 2021 and was first detected in South Africa in 2024 before seeming to disappear.

Prof Gupta believes that it developed so many mutations to evade immunity by being incubated in a single patient for over a year. This ‘patient zero’ would have been unable to clear the virus due to a compromised immune system, such as can occur when the patient also has HIV or is taking anti-cancer drugs.

Now, after a period of dormancy, Cicada has spread to 23 countries and is spreading across the US, with detections in wastewater systems in 29 states. The latest global data is from February, so the strain may have spread more widely since then.

Prof Gupta said: “This new variant has been found in the UK. Some people have done analysis on this, suggesting it may be more prevalent among young children. Children get infections all the time, but this might be something to do with the fact that they have never been exposed to COVID vaccines.

“So this is something we’re looking at in the lab to try and work out why. The problem with this is that it is an infection that spreads fast. Eventually, it ends up in someone who is vulnerable.”

Symptoms seem to appear similar to other recent variants, and include a sore throat, cough, congestion, fatigue, headache and fever. But this strain has also caused gastrointestinal issues such as nausea or diarrhoea in some people, according to the US-based Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC reported that between November 2025 and January 2026, weekly detections of BA.3.2 increased to around 30% of COVID-19 sequences reported in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. However, crucially, they have not yet detected an overall increase in COVID cases there compared to previous years.

Experts have said that while current vaccines may be less effective against Cicada, vaccination still offers significant protection against severe disease. Latest data suggests Long Covid still occurs in about three in 100 cases.

You may be offered a COVID-19 vaccine in spring if you are aged 75 or over, are aged six months to 74 years and have a weakened immune system because of a health condition or treatment, or live in a care home for older adults. COVID-19 boosters are also available privately from High Street pharmacies for those not eligible on the NHS. The jabs can cost between £75 and £100.