Which of the following is an incorrect statement about viruses?

The statement that viruses are larger than bacteria is incorrect. In fact, viruses are typically much smaller than bacteria. While bacteria are unicellular organisms that can be seen under a light microscope and range in size from about 0.2 to 10 micrometers, viruses are much smaller, usually ranging from about 0.02 to 0.3 micrometers. This size difference is significant and highlights the fact that viruses cannot be seen under a standard light microscope; instead, an electron microscope is needed to observe them.

The other statements about viruses are accurate. They do require a host to reproduce, as they lack the cellular machinery necessary for self-replication and must hijack the host cell's processes to create copies of themselves. Additionally, viruses can infect all types of living organisms, including animals, plants, and even bacteria (where they are referred to as bacteriophages). Furthermore, viruses are not considered living organisms because they do not exhibit many characteristics typical of living cells, such as metabolism and cellular structure, and they can only exhibit life activity when inside a host cell.