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
Reliability of thermal desalination (solar stills) for water/wastewater treatment in light of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus “SARS-CoV-2”) pandemic: What should consider?