The COVID-19 pandemic disturbed the world from the beginning of 2020. The high excessive number of patients and the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 in human excreta and urine even after the infected person's respiratory tests were negative, results in a heavy load of viral in various water bodies and mostly untreated wastewaters. In the present study, the reliability of using small-scale solar thermal desalination systems (solar stills) during a situation like the COVID-19 pandemic is discussed. Pollution of water bodies through the SARS-CoV-2 via numerous routes increases the risk of contaminating the feed water and subsequently the whole structure of solar stills. Since the transmission of pathogens (particle size: 0.5–3 μm) via droplets of water in solar still is reported before, transmitting of SARS-CoV-2 via droplets of water which multiple times smaller (particle size: 60–140 nm) than those pathogens is a concern. The most important issue which must be highlighted is that solar stills worked at low-temperature while the viability and survival of the SARS-CoV-2 in various water matrices in the temperature range (4–37 °C) for several days is reported. In this regard, using solar stills during the COVID-19 pandemic need further consideration by all researchers and people around the world.

2020年初，COVID-19大流行扰乱了世界。患者人数过多，即使感染者的呼吸道检测呈阴性，人类排泄物和尿液中仍存在SARS-CoV-2，造成了沉重的负担各种水体和大多数未经处理的废水中存在病毒。在本研究中，讨论了在 COVID-19 大流行等情况下使用小型太阳能热淡化系统（太阳能蒸馏器）的可靠性。 SARS-CoV-2 通过多种途径对水体造成污染，增加了污染给水以及随后污染太阳能蒸馏器整个结构的风险。由于以前报道过通过太阳蒸馏器中的水滴传播病原体（粒径：0.5-3μm），因此SARS-CoV-2通过比太阳蒸馏器小数倍的水滴（粒径：60-140nm）传播这些病原体令人担忧。必须强调的最重要的问题是，太阳能蒸馏器在低温下工作，而 SARS-CoV-2 在温度范围（4-37 °C）的各种水基质中的生存能力和存活率有报道。在这方面，在 COVID-19 大流行期间使用太阳能蒸馏器需要全世界所有研究人员和人们进一步考虑。