In Pictures: Burying COVID-19 victims on Peru's hilltop cemetery

As the number of COVID-19 deaths in Peru rapidly mounts, the Virgen de Lourdes cemetery has become a monument to the pandemic's devastating toll among the poor.

The cemetery is among the biggest in the world - with more than a million tombs - and it is located in one of Lima's most impoverished neighbourhoods.

Now, with COVID-19's escalating death toll, the cemetery is becoming even more gargantuan.

Those dying from the virus are being buried at a distance, in one of the sprawling cemetery's most remote hills. Relatives and cemetery workers carry caskets up the steep terrain and place them in freshly dug graves.

Before one tomb, a man thumbs the strings of a worn wooden harp. Family members cry, collapse, and sometimes, let out a sorrowful laugh. Some throw beer into the pit, an ancient ritual honouring the newly departed.

Stray dogs linger, sitting alongside graves when relatives have left.

Known among locals as Nueva Esperanza Cemetery - or New Hope Cemetery - the graveyard was built in the 1960s and later filled with the remains of Peruvians who died after migrating to Lima in escape of a brutal war against Shining Path fighters.

There are children and teens mourning parents. One woman burying two brothers. Many of the victims are no older than 55.

Peru now has more than 170,000 confirmed cases with more than 4,600 reported deaths.

A funeral home vehicle carrying COVID-19 victims drives through the Nueva Esperanza Cemetery on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. RODRIGO ABD/AP PHOTO

Cemetery workers carry the remains of Flavio Juarez, 50, who died of COVID-19, up the hill at the Nueva Esperanza Cemetery. RODRIGO ABD/AP PHOTO

Cemetery workers shovel over the tomb of Romulo Huallpatuero, 50, who died of COVID-19. RODRIGO ABD/AP PHOTO

A relative decorates with rocks the tomb of Adrian Tarazona Manrique, 72, at the Nueva Esperanza Cemetery. RODRIGO ABD/AP PHOTO

Noly Suarez holds a cross during the burial of her brother Flavio Juarez, 50, who died of COVID-19. RODRIGO ABD/AP PHOTO

Relatives comfort a family member during the burial service of 85-year-old Lupicino Fernandez. RODRIGO ABD/AP PHOTO

An exhausted cemetery worker lies on the ground after carrying the coffin of Victor Gaspar up the hill at the Nueva Esperanza cemetery. RODRIGO ABD/AP PHOTO

A candy seller waits for customers near empty tombs at the Nueva Esperanza Cemetery. RODRIGO ABD/AP PHOTO

Harpist and cemetery worker Charlie Juarez plays music as Gregoria Zumaeta, left, mourns the death of her brothers Jorge Zumaeta, 50, and Miguel Zumaeta, 54, who died of COVID-19. RODRIGO ABD/AP PHOTO