The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Monday that it will begin testing samples collected from international air travelers beyond COVID-19 for influenza and respiratory synctial virus (RSV) in November. will expand.

The agency's travel-based genomic surveillance (TGS) program was launched in 2021 to help with the early detection of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. As part of this, CDC conducts voluntary nasal swabs and airport wastewater sampling.

The program includes seven participating international airports across the country – Los Angeles, New York's John F. Kennedy, San Francisco, Boston Logan, Washington Dulles, Seattle and Newark.

“Our focus is always on airports that act as international hubs and have flights arriving from a wide range of international locations so that we can get a picture of what is going on around the world and detect any concerns early,” said Cindy Friedman, Director of Travelers' Health at the CDC Branch.

Of the 6,000 nasal swab samples collected each week through the program, about 2,000 are tested for respiratory illnesses, Friedman said, adding that nasal swab samples from two of the seven participating airports have been tested since October.

Wastewater extraction from some airports began in November, Friedman added, without specifying the locations.

The pilot expansion, which will last several months, comes ahead of the winter months in the U.S., when viruses that cause respiratory illnesses typically circulate more intensely.

The CDC has warned that it expects hospitalizations from COVID-19, RSV infections and flu this year to be similar to last year's numbers and above pre-pandemic levels.

TGS is a public-private partnership between the health authority and the expansion project is being implemented by biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks
 and wellness holding company XWELL.