Benzinga | Nov 30, 2021 04:49PM EST

XpresSpa Group, Ginkgo Bioworks Says Collaboration With CDC COVID-19 Biosurveillance Program Expands To Include Detection Of Omicron Variant

XpresSpa Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:XSPA) ("XpresSpa" or the "Company"), a health and wellness company, today announced through a joint effort with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA), the expansion of its current COVID-19 variant surveillance program to detect the new Omicron variant through its XpresCheck subsidiary.



On Saturday, November 27, the White House announced new travel restrictions applicable to eight African countries in response to a new COVID-19 variant of concern, designated as "Omicron" by the World Health Organization.

"Information about the Omicron variant is rapidly evolving," said Dr. Martin Cetron, the Director for the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ) at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "We are actively working to scale up this collaborative post-arrival airport-based surveillance testing program to monitor for this new variant in arriving travelers."

On Sunday, November 28, XpresCheck expanded its COVID-19 biosurveillance program to test passengers entering the United States from Southern Africa, including passengers making connections through Europe. The initial COVID-19 biosurveillance program launched in September and provided testing for travelers arriving from India at three key United States airports, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark-Liberty International Airport, and San Francisco International Airport, and is expanding to include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The CDC's program, conducted in collaboration with XpresCheck and Ginkgo Bioworks, offers two types of free testing options. The first is a PCR test done on a pooled sample collected at the airport on arrival. A pooled test means several passengers' samples are combined together and tested as a group. This approach enables efficient large-scale testing of many passengers entering the country. The second option is an at-home specimen collection kit that passengers can take with them and mail back a sample collected three to five days after arrival into the United States for individualized PCR testing. The CDC strongly encourages all international travelers to get tested three to five days after arrival in the United States. Through this program, results are provided to passengers and public health authorities to help interrupt the chain of transmission in US communities, and detect variants of concern entering the United States.

Ginkgo Bioworks' biosecurity and public health effort, Concentric by Ginkgo, will manage the testing program, which includes genetic sequencing of positive tests to detect presence of the new variant of concern or other SARS-CoV-2 variants. The CDC uses these results for ongoing surveillance purposes, in order to inform public health decision-making.

"Over the past three months, we've been accumulating real-world experience in conducting an airport-based COVID-19 surveillance of international arriving passengers, while refining and streamlining our testing processes to maximize program results," said Doug Satzman, XpresSpa Group CEO. "Now that we've got the network built and running smoothly, we believe we can rapidly pivot to adapt to any new variants of concern, including the latest Omicron variant."

"We stand ready to provide the biosecurity tools and expertise needed to give our public health leaders the weather map they need at this point in the pandemic," said Matthew McKnight, Ginkgo Bioworks' Chief Commercial Officer. "This collaboration with the incredible teams at XpresCheck and the CDC will provide critical information for passengers, for communities, and for national pandemic response."