Governor of the southern U.S. state of Alabama Kay Ivey said the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases in the state can be blamed on those who refuse to get vaccines, news portal Patch reported.

"The few cases of COVID-19 are because of unvaccinated folks," Ivey was quoted as saying in a report on Friday.

"Almost 100 percent of the new hospitalizations are unvaccinated folks. And the deaths certainly are occurring with unvaccinated folks. These folks are choosing a horrible lifestyle of self-inflicted pain," said the governor.

"I want folks to get vaccinated. That's the cure. That prevents everything," Ivey told reporters in Birmingham, Alabama on Thursday.

Alabama remains the state with perhaps the lowest vaccination rate in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Only 39.6 percent of its residents aged 12 and above have been fully vaccinated, compared to the 48.8 percent of Americans nationally who have gotten their shots.

According to the report, as of Thursday, the state reported a seven-day average of 1,143 new cases of COVID-19, a significant increase from the seven-day average just a month ago, which was reported at just 191 new cases.

The Alabama Department of Public Health said Wednesday that 94 percent of COVID-19 hospital patients and 96 percent of Alabamians who have died of COVID-19 since April were not vaccinated.

(With input from Xinhua)