Alabama's intensive care units (ICU) are near capacity amid the state's surge in Covid-19 cases, report AP.

The head of the Alabama Hospital Association says the state has 1,562 intensive care unit beds and 1,560 patients needed intensive care Monday. Dr Don Williamson says that "this is the greatest demand on the ICU system we've ever had."

Alabama has seen a surge in Covid-19 cases, fuelled by the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus and the state's low vaccination rate. Infections and hospitalisation numbers are quickly approaching what they were at the winter peak of the pandemic.

Williamson says Covid-19 patients accounted for 48 per cent of Alabama's ICU patients Monday. He says the overwhelming majority of them are unvaccinated.