Red Deer is among the communities where pharmacies are offering asymptomatic COVID-19 testing to make it easier for Albertans to help stop the spread of the virus.
In June, the province announced 20 community pharmacies were part of the pilot phase using throat swab tests sent to Alberta Precision Labs for analysis.
As of Monday, pharmacies had conducted more than 1,700 asymptomatic COVID-19 tests.
The names and locations of pharmacies are not being released right now to ensure testing sites are not overwhelmed, says Alberta Health Services.
Asymptomatic Albertans are encouraged to talk to their local pharmacist to see if testing is available.
The number of pharmacies conducting COVID-19 testing is being limited to ensure the processes and flow of test materials and data works well before expanding the program further, says AHS.
Additional pharmacies are planning to offer testing in coming weeks.
This testing is in addition to the COVID-19 testing already offered by AHS across the province.