CALGARY -- A pharmacy in Lethbridge, Alta. has been chosen to participate in a critical pilot project aimed at learning more about COVID-19 outside Alberta's major centres.

The Medicine Shoppe is one of 20 locations chosen in the province to conduct tests on asymptomatic people. Officials say the goal of the project is to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 in those smaller communities.

The data collected through the testing can be very helpful, say the people involved.

"So, let's say there is an outbreak in the world then, certainly we can take some of the strain from Alberta Health about screening people and everything. So, there is a kind of long-term strategy," said Vishal Sukhadiya, pharmacist and owner of the Medicine Shoppe.

So far, the office has completed 20 tests, all of them negative.

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The rest of the pharmacies involved in the pilot will be announced next week.