Benzinga | Dec 20, 2021 12:14PM EST

Gingko, XpresSpa Saturday Reported Concentric, XpresCheck Confirmed First North American Detections Of Novel BA.3 Sublineage Of Omicron Variant Through CDC COVID-19 Air Travel Biosecurity Program

Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) today confirmed that it has collected, identified, and sequenced three samples containing the novel BA.3 sublineage of the Omicron variant. Samples came from passengers on flights originating from South Africa who arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in early December. These samples were collected in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and XpresSpa Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:XSPA) as part of a SARS-CoV-2 surveillance project that involves voluntary sampling of arriving international travelers at select United States airports. The program is implemented through XpresSpa Group's XpresCheck(tm) subsidiary and Ginkgo's public health and biosecurity initiative, Concentric by Ginkgo.

The sequence represents the first time the BA.3 sublineage has been identified in North America. State and local public health authorities have already been alerted about these cases and are taking all appropriate measures to ensure that the individuals receive the health support they need and that the spread of the viral strain is contained to the extent possible.

This joint program leverages Concentric's large-scale group testing infrastructure and XpresCheck's in-airport testing platform to detect COVID-19 variants among international travelers. The goal of this program is to create a system that detects and provides information about the virus. Currently, the program is operating at four large airports: JFK International Airport (JFK), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). The program recently reported the first detection of the Omicron variant among inbound international travelers from a sample collected at a United States airport.

As part of this program, Concentric performs viral sequencing on samples that are positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Through testing and sequencing conducted through this surveillance program, Concentric confirmed the presence of the new BA.3 sublineage of the Omicron variant. There is presently limited data available on BA.3 and only six cases have been reported worldwide to date (none of which were in the United States). Scientists at CDC and throughout the world are working to learn more about this and other sublineages of Omicron. These samples will aid them in that goal.

"Early detection and sequencing of new variants entering the United States are crucial to our ability to better understand the virus and assess the threat it poses to public health," said Dr. Duncan MacCannell, Chief Science Officer for CDC's Office of Advanced Molecular Detection (OAMD). "These first US BA.3 sublineages detected through the traveler-based surveillance program provide insight about the Omicron variant to public health agencies, and expand our understanding of travel-related transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variants."

"These findings further demonstrate the importance and effectiveness of this collaborative airport-based surveillance program to quickly identify SARS-CoV-2 variants and variant changes that could have public health implications." said Dr. Cindy Friedman, Chief of CDC's Travelers' Health Branch. "We thank the travelers who participated and encourage more travelers to do so as post arrival testing after international travel is an important part of the COVID-19 public health response to help protect communities across the country."

To date, over 9,000 arriving international travelers have voluntarily participated in the joint air travel COVID-19 surveillance program. The program continues to collect samples daily. In addition to samples collected at the airport, participants receive a free home kit to collect a sample 3-5 days after travel that they mail to the lab for PCR testing; positive samples undergo genetic sequencing. CDC recommends that all travelers get tested 3-5 days after international travel.

"Proactive pathogen monitoring is so important - it allows us to build a weather map of how the virus evolves and spreads by characterizing what is entering the country," said Matt McKnight, Chief Commercial Officer at Ginkgo Bioworks, who is leading the Concentric by Ginkgo initiative. "It's been exciting to engage travelers in the program, helping them to stay on the go and in the know, while also providing critical information to scientists, public health authorities, and communities, allowing all of us to better understand and respond to the virus as it continues to evolve. Scaled biomonitoring programs like this one, conducted in partnership between the public and private sector, will form the foundation of next-generation biosecurity and sustained public health, through this pandemic and potential future threats."

Doug Satzman, XpresSpa Group CEO, stated, "We are pleased that the biosurveillance program we developed in collaboration with the CDC and our partners at Ginkgo Bioworks is playing such an important role in detecting new variants and mutations of the COVID-19 virus entering the country. This further underscores the importance of COVID testing across our nation's airports and the leading role that XpresCheck can play monitoring the potential risks that may be entering our borders."

Today, Concentric by Ginkgo's integrated platform leverages a lab network that consists of dozens of partner labs to provide testing in 18 states (including the District of Columbia), primarily in K-12 schools, helping keep schools open and kids in class. Concentric's network has enough contracted and validated labs to serve millions of individuals with pooled tests every week and Concentric stands ready to invest to expand this partner capacity.