There exist two kinds of viruses in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region today. One is the novel coronavirus that infects the body, and the other is a political virus spread by some media outlets, such as the Apple Daily, that contaminates the mind. If Hong Kong wants to come out of its current quagmire, it needs to defeat both kinds of viruses at the same time.

Since the outbreak of the third wave of the virus in the city, what the Apple Daily is concerned with is not residents' safety, but whether it can take advantage of it to generate hatred against the SAR government in society.

No matter what measure the government takes to contain the contagion, the newspaper invariably smears it; no matter what assistance the Chinese mainland provides the city with to help it curb the spread of the virus, the newspaper is always ready to badmouth it.

The newspaper even openly calls COVID-19 the "Wuhan virus", a stigmatization that has been widely criticized by the international community. It is obvious the "poisonous apple" is ready to speculate on the pandemic to fulfill its anti-government agenda.

Ironically, it upholds a banner of press freedom while doing all these, betraying the media's professional ethics and social responsibility as public tools. The newspaper builds its inflammatory points of view on distorted facts in a bid to instigate social unrest and drive a wedge between the Hong Kong society and the SAR government, while portraying the United States' brazen and illegal interferences into China's internal affairs in the city as righteous moves.

The foundation affiliated to the newspaper allegedly contributes tremendous amounts of money to rioters and radical organizations in the hope that they can continuously exert pressure on the government.

So the newspaper is only part of a big anti-government machinery that is connected with various kinds of reactionary forces at home and abroad.

To some extent, it is more difficult to contain the political virus spread by the newspaper than the novel coronavirus. It is hoped that Hong Kong residents raise their vigilance to the potential harm the newspaper can inflict on the city, and take the initiative to boycott the "poisonous apple".