BOSTON, Dec. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 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™ 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.
About Ginkgo Bioworks
Ginkgo is building a platform to
enable customers to program cells as easily as we can program
computers. The company's platform is enabling biotechnology
applications across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to
industrial chemicals to pharmaceuticals. Ginkgo has also actively
supported a number of COVID-19 response efforts, including K-12
pooled testing, vaccine manufacturing optimization, and
therapeutics discovery. For more information, visit
www.ginkgobioworks.com.
About XpresSpa Group, Inc.
XpresSpa Group, Inc.
(Nasdaq: XSPA) is a leading global health and wellness holding
company operating three distinct brands: Treat™, XpresCheck™, and
XpresSpa™. Treat is a travel health and wellness brand that will be
providing on-demand access to healthcare through technology and
personalized services. XpresCheck is a leading on-site airport
provider of COVID-19 screening and testing with 14 locations in 12
domestic airports. XpresSpa is a leading airport retailer of spa
services and related health and wellness products, with 43
locations in 21 airports globally.
To learn more about XpresSpa Group, visit:
www.XpresSpaGroup.com.
To learn more about Treat, visit: www.Treat.com.
To learn more about XpresCheck, visit: www.XpresCheck.com.
To learn more about XpresSpa, visit www.XpresSpa.com.
Twitter: @Treat_Care and Instagram: @treat_care
Twitter: @xprescheck and Instagram: @realxprescheck
Twitter: @XpresSpa and Instagram: @XpresSpa
Ginkgo Bioworks Contacts:
Media:
press@ginkgobioworks.com
Investor Relations:
investors@ginkgobioworks.com
XpresSpa Group Contacts:
Media:
Julie Ferguson
Julie@jfprmedia.com
(312) 385-0098
Investor Relations:
ICR
Raphael Gross
ir@xpresspagroup.com
(203) 682-8253
Ginkgo Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including
statements regarding the potential of Ginkgo's biosecurity
capabilities and partnership with XpresSpa Group, Inc. These
forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words
"believe," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate,"
"estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan,"
"may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will
likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements
are predictions, projections and other statements about future
events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and,
as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors
could cause actual future events to differ materially from the
forward-looking statements in this document, including but not
limited to: (i) the effect of the business combination with Soaring
Eagle Acquisition Corp. ("Soaring Eagle") on Ginkgo's business
relationships, performance, and business generally, (ii) risks that
the business combination disrupts current plans of Ginkgo and
potential difficulties in Ginkgo's employee retention, (iii) the
outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against
Ginkgo related to its business combination with Soaring Eagle, (iv)
volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities now that it is a
public company due to a variety of factors, including changes in
the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo
plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors,
changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business and
changes in the combined capital structure, (v) the ability to
implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after
the completion of the business combination, and identify and
realize additional opportunities, and (vi) the risk of downturns in
demand for products using synthetic biology. The foregoing list of
factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the
foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described
in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's quarterly report on Form
10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the
"SEC") on November 15, 2021 and other
documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These
filings identify and address other important risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ
materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made.
Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking
statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to
update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does
not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.
Forward-Looking Statements of XpresSpa Group, Inc.
This press release may contain "forward-looking" statements
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933,
and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These
include statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise
include the words "believes," "expects," "anticipates,"
"estimates," "projects," "intends," "should," "seeks," "future,"
"continue," or the negative of such terms, or other comparable
terminology. Forward-looking statements relating to expectations
about future results or events are based upon information available
to XpresSpa Group as of today's date and are not guarantees of the
future performance of the Company, and actual results may vary
materially from the results and expectations discussed. Additional
information concerning these and other risks is contained in
XpresSpa Group's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K,
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, and
other Securities and Exchange Commission filings. All subsequent
written and oral forward-looking statements concerning XpresSpa
Group, or other matters attributable to XpresSpa Group or any
person acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their
entirety by the cautionary statements above. XpresSpa Group does
not undertake any obligation to publicly update any of these
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that
may arise after the date hereof.
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SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks