Images from Myanmar viral as social distancing in Mizoram vegetable market

by Kinjal

Mahesh Vikram Hegde, founder of fake news website Postcard News, shared two images claiming that they depict vegetable markets in Mizoram where vendors and customers are practising social distancing. “Pictures are from Mizoram. People who are violating social distancing must definitely learn from this!” he wrote.

Author Shunali Shroff also shared the images, drawing over 8,000 likes and 2,000 retweets. Other prominent handles which promoted the same claim were – author Shobha De, editorial director of Newsweek Group Danish Manzoor and retired air marshal Anil Chopra.

Even on Reddit, the images are floating as scenes from Mizoram.

Photos from Myanmar

A reverse-image search on Google led us to a tweet by VSK Assam which claimed that the photographs are from Myanmar. A subsequent keyword search on Twitter redirected us to an April 24 tweet by Burmese historian Thant Myint-U. He wrote, “The market in Kalaw, a beautiful hill station in Myanmar, 4,500 ft above sea level.”

A hoarding in one of the images carries the words ‘High Class’. This is a brand of whiskey by Seagram’s supplied in Myanmar.

Filipino media group ABS-CBN News had tweeted the images on April 20, crediting photographer Jain Weraphong.

One of the viral images was also featured in an article on Thailand-based media outlet The Nation Thailand.

Photographs of social distancing being practised at a vegetable market in Myanmar was shared by prominent Indian social media users as Mizoram.

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About the Author

Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.