The invention relates to the field of natural high polymer materials, and discloses an antibacterial and antiviral plant fiber prepared from a zinc chloride/urea eutectic system and a method and application thereof. The method comprises the following steps: mixing zinc chloride and urea, heating and melting to obtain a zinc chloride/urea eutectic system, cooling, sequentially adding water and fibrillated plant fibers, heating for reaction, and filtering and washing to obtain the nano-zinc oxide coated antibacterial and antiviral plant fibers. The method is simple in preparation process, easy to operate and low in energy consumption, the plant fibers are good in antibacterial and antiviral performance, the bacteriostasis rate of the plant fibers to escherichia coli, staphylococcus aureus and candida albicans is larger than 99.9%, and the antiviral activity value (Mv) of the plant fibers to influenza A H1N1 viruses is larger than 3.0. The additional value of the plant fiber is improved, and the application of the plant fiber in the fields of spinning, medical treatment, food packaging and the like is promoted.