WINNIPEG -- A new COVID-19 testing site will be opening in Dauphin at a current Manitoba Public Insurance location.

MPI said at the end of the day on Thursday the business will close and transition into a drive-thru testing centre.

The facility will be taken over by Prairie Mountain Health and it will determine an opening date for the location.

“Manitobans are working together during these very difficult times,” said Crown Services Minister Jeff Wharton in a news release. “I want to thank MPI for its continued community leadership and cooperation with this effort. Working together, we will overcome this challenge stronger than ever before.”

MPI said all appointments that were scheduled at the centre will be cancelled and customers are being contacted about cancellations and alternate options.

“Through cooperation and partnerships, we will all do our part to flatten the COVID-19 curve,” MPI’s president and CEO Ben Graham said in a news release. “Business will continue in the Parkland region, albeit a bit differently from what our customers are used to. But such efforts are for the greater good.”

People are being reminded to not attend this facility yet because it isn’t open for testing and they shouldn’t visit it if they aren’t told to do so.