More COVID-19 testing locations opened Wednesday amid the surge in New York's COVID-19 positivity rate.

The new effort comes as an increased volume of people seeks testing, causing long lines and longer waits for results at some sites.

There are a total of five testing sites opening across the five boroughs.

State officials hope the new sites will help alleviate that problem and bring more testing options in areas of high need in the city, such as the Kings Plaza opening in Brooklyn. There's also another site opening in the Bronx at the Concourse Village Community Center. The testing site at Kings Plaza is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the testing site in the Bronx is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

As the Kings Plaza site got up and running, some people who had been waiting in line say staff told them that they were only testing people who had appointments. Those without appointments faced waits of over an hour, leading to frustration. Staff did eventually allow walk-ins at the site, but the miscommunication caused confusion earlier with people not knowing whether they should wait in line or just go home.

Each site offers both appointments and walk-ins. However, the Bronx and Brooklyn testing sites are mostly booked through Saturday.

As of Tuesday, more than 40,000 people tested positive for COVID-19 across the state. More than half of them were from New York City.

Hospitalizations are also on the rise. The state says nearly 1,200 people were taken to the hospital for COVID-19 complications and more than 300 of them are people from New York City.