CALGARY -- Starting Wednesday, Calgarians will no longer need to book an appointment to get tested for COVID-19 as a new drop-in testing clinic has opened up in the city’s southwest. 

The Richmond Road Diagnostic and Treatment Centre (1820 Richmond Rd. S.W.) will be accepting drop-in patients from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week. 

Whether patients have COVID-19 symptoms or not, they will be able to access testing at the clinic by parking on the building’s west side and entering through the main doors. 

Once inside, a simple throat swab will be administered. Those that receive tests will be contacted with their results. The process will determine if they have coronavirus at the time of test, but won’t be able to confirm whether someone previously had the virus. 

Health officials are attempting to expand testing in the province and the drop-in approach is expected to facilitate an increase. 

Alberta currently has the capacity to complete 10,000 COVID-19 tests each day but backlogs have resulted in the province using about a third of that capacity on average. 

Alberta Health Services' Calgary Zone now has six COVID-19 testing centres. Aside from the Richmond Road location, all other centres will only accept patients by appointment for tests. 

Appointments can be booked online at ahs.ca/covid19 or by calling Health Link at 811.