Set among green hills in Peru's rural north, the town of Chota is close to collapse under the weight of COVID-19 as the Andean nation battles the world's deadliest outbreak of the virus.

Chota is grappling with raging infections, sharpened by a lack of intensive care unit beds and medical resources. It is on Peru's 'extreme alert' list along with a handful of other rural provinces - all far from wealthy urban centers.

As developed countries from the United States to Europe edge back towards normality with fast vaccine roll-outs, Latin America is still in the tight grip of COVID-19 with daily cases and deaths in the region topping global charts.

Peru this week almost tripled its official death toll to over 180,000 using revised figures, making it by far the highest in the world per capita and underscoring the havoc the virus has wreaked on the resource-rich continent.

Chota, a town of some 40,000 people in the region of Cajamarca, is reached on roads, at times unpaved, that snake through lush hills. The nearest ICU bed is a three-hour drive away.