In my opinion viruses are alive. In simple words, a virus is an infectious agent that spreads in cells and causes deadly diseases. Viruses were first discovered in 1892 by Dmitri Ivanovsky. But they are not able to live on their own. They live and evolve in the host cell. They get ingested in the host cell and reproduce inside the host cell at their expense. Host cell gets infected by the virus which further helps the virus to multiply and replicate. Viruses do not have cells. They infect almost all life forms present in this world. So there is no life form on earth that can be safe from the virus.They cannot reproduce and evolve without a host. But once they get a host and start replicating. It is very hard to control the spread. The very good example of this scenario is SARS-CoV-2 which spreads Covid. Many people say viruses are not living because they cannot live without a host.Viruses do not possess the characteristics of other biological organisms. They lack the ability to carry out metabolic processes for example ATP Production.They also do not have the cells. The only process that a virus can do on its own is reproduction. That further occurs in the host organism. Few viruses are known that can survive outside of their host depending on environmental conditions they have few years to live. Some scientists consider viruses to be non-living because they depend on the host to survive.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 