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BACKGROUND: Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese government and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention have released COVID-19-related information to the public through various channels to raise their concern regarding the pandemic, increase their knowledge of disease prevention, and ensure they take proper preventive practices. OBJECTIVE: Our objectives were to determine Chinese netizens\' concerns related to COVID-19 and the relationship between their concerns and Internet information; and to elucidate the association between individuals\' concerns, knowledge, and behavior related to COVID-19. METHODS: The questionnaire, which consisted of 15 closed-ended questions, was designed to investigate Chinese netizens\' knowledge about COVID-19. The self-selection online survey method of nonprobability sampling was used to recruit participants through Dingxiangyisheng WeChat accounts. Standard descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data. RESULTS: In total, 10,304 respondents were surveyed on the Internet (response rate = 1.75%, 10,304/590,000). Nearly all (95.30%) participants were concerned about \'confirmed cases\' and 87.70% received information about the outbreak through social media websites. There were significant differences in participants\' concerns by sex (P = .016), age (P < .001), educational attainment (P = .001), and occupation (P < .001). All knowledge questions and preventive practices were associated with concerns about COVID-19. The results of the multivariate logistic regression indicate that participants\' sex, educational attainment, occupation and employment status, knowledge acquisition, and concern were significantly associated with the proper preventive practices. CONCLUSIONS: This study elucidated the concerns, information sources, and preventive behaviors of Chinese netizens related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sex, educational attainment, occupation and employment status, knowledge acquisition, and concern were key factors associated with proper preventive behaviors. This provides the theoretical basis for the government to provide targeted prevention and control information to the public.
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