The Covid-19 pandemic raised people's awareness of infectious disease prevention. Antibacterial and antiviral coatings are extremely important in cutting off the transmission routes of pathogens because of its convenience of application，thus，the development of efficient and durable antibacterial and antiviral coatings has become a research hotspot. This review first introduces four types of antibacterial agents used in coatings，including inorganic antibacterial agent，synthetic organic antibacterial agent，natural antibacterial agent，and antibacterial nanomaterials. The antibacterial efficiency of the coatings based on addition of antibacterial agent depends on the contact between bacteria and the antibacterial agent at the surface of coatings as well as on the concentration of antibacterial agent released，while their antibacterial durability is impacted by the release velocity and degradation of antibacterial agents，contamination of coating surface，and etc. Combination of different kinds of bactericides via mixing，integrating，and encapsulating methods，or combination of bactericidal and self-cleaning surface，has been proven to effectively improvethe performance of coatings and prolong their service life. The antibacterial performance of thecoatings based on covalently bonding of antibacterial agent is realized mainly by direct contactof bacteria with coating surface. Meanwhile，it is extremely crucial to avoid the adhesion ofbacteria on the surface of this kind of coating in practical application. In addition，the principles and research status of antiviral coatings are simply described. Future developmentof antibacterial/antiviral coatings should be focused more on their drug resistance，antibacterial durability，and corresponding fundamental researches. Exploitation of DIY antibacterial coatings should also be paid attention.