Agua Dulce beach is usually a sea of humanity, packed with as many as 40,000 people a day at the height of Peru’s Southern Hemisphere summer, which runs from December to March.

The new coronavirus pandemic has changed all that. Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra declared a state of emergency as deaths began to mount and ordered people to stay home, largely emptying the beach of people.

Thousands of beachgoers pack into Agua Dulce’s public beach during the Southern Hemisphere summer, which runs from December until March, in Lima, Peru, Feb. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Thousands of birds flock to Agua Dulce beach now largely absent of beachgoers since Peru's president declared a state emergency and ordered people to stay home to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, in Lima, Peru, March 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

The half-mile-long (kilometer-long) strip of grayish-brown sand 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of central Lima is normally a haven for the working classes, a place where visitors from the Andean highlands first dip a toe in the sea.

But in recent days, an army of seabirds has claimed the sandy territory abandoned by people. Densely thronged pedestrian bridges are all but empty. Instead of chaotic human footprints, the beach is tattooed with the tracks of gulls and pelicans.

A man smiles as he buried in the sand on a day out with friends on Agua Dulce beach in Lima, Peru, Feb. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A lost sandal sits on the shore of Agua Dulce beach typically packed with thousands of beachgoers this time of year, in Lima, Peru, March 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Boys sit in an inflatable pool while eating green sugar-coated apples as policemen work to remove an unlicensed food vendor, at Agua Dulce beach in Lima, Peru, Feb. 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Policemen walk along an empty shore on the final days of the Southern Hemisphere summer to warn off would be swimmers as a precaution to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, at Agua Dulce beach in Lima, Peru, March 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Beachgoers relax in the sand at Agua Dulce beach in Lima, Peru, Feb. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Bird tracks surround a carcass on the shore of Agua Dulce beach in Lima, Peru, March 24, 2020, days after a state of emergency was declared in Peru in response to the new coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Transgender Natalia, a Venezuelan migrant, strikes a pose as she wades in shallow waters along the shore of Agua Dulce beach in Lima, Peru, Feb. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

An aerial view of Agua Dulce beach is seen absent of beachgoers in the final days of the Southern Hemisphere summer, in Lima, Peru, March 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

People put on their street clothes after spending a day at Agua Dulce beach in Lima, Peru, Feb. 23, 2020. Most of the beachgoers arrive and return home on public transportation. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Tomas Cabrera, 86, meditates on a jetty along the Pacific coast in Lima, Peru, March 24, 2020, defying a stay-at-home order decreed by the government to help reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A man, holding his birthday cake, poses for a photo with his family on the shore of Agua Dulce beach in Lima, Peru, Feb. 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A statue of Peruvian naval hero Miguel Grau overlooks the Pacific coast on the normally popular boardwalk usually filled with visitors, in Lima, Peru, March 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Text from AP News story AP PHOTOS: Birds claim Peru beach emptied by virus outbreak

Photos by Rodrigo Abd

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