Photographs posted on social media in Viet Nam showing people who died of COVID-19 are fake news. The photos are of Myanmar, not Vietnamese, who have died of COVID-19. — Photo courtesy of the HCM City Press Centre

HCM CITY — Photos of people who died of COVID-19 posted on social media in Việt Nam are images of Myanmar and are not Vietnamese people, according to the Việt Nam Anti-Fake News Centre (VAFC) under the Ministry of Information and Communications’s Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information.

Some social media accounts are using images of COVID-19 deaths in Myanmar to spread fake news that the bodies are patients in HCM City.

The fake news has confused the public and has had an adverse impact on pandemic prevention and control activities.

VAFC encourages people and netizens not to share and spread the fake news. The news centre will transfer the case to relevant authorities for investigation and handling in strict accordance with the law. — VNS