Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease that spreads around the world. The lack of effective antiviral drugs and vaccines, along with the relatively high mortality rate and high contagiousness, has raised strong public concerns over COVID-19, especially for people living in the most severely affected areas. This study aimed to clarify the influencing factors for the anxiety level among the Chinese people during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on the media exposure to different COVID-19 information. Methods A total of 4991 respondents were randomly recruited from a national online panel from February 12 th , 2020 to February 14 th , 2020, a period when the number of COVID-19 cases surpassed 10,000 in a single day, with the total cases in China reaching up to 90000. The relationships between media exposure of COVID-19 information, social and geographical proximity to COVID-19, risk perceptions were assessed using hierarchical ordinary least squares regression analysis. Results The media exposure to COVID-19 information was differently associated with anxiety. Meanwhile, the anxiety level was found to be high in respondents who personally knew someone infected with COVID-19 or those who living in an area with reported cases. Respondents who perceived more risks also reported a higher level of anxiety. Conclusions This study highlights the role of media exposure in affecting individuals’ anxiety level during the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, it is recommended that government and health professionals are recommended to adopt effective risk communication strategies to protect citizens’ mental health during the pandemic. Keywords: self-rated anxiety, media exposure, social proximity, geographical proximity, risk perception

Background A novel coronavirus named COVID-19 is an emerging infectious disease confronting the world. The lack of effective antiviral drugs and vaccines, along with the relative high death rate and high contagiousness, has raised strong public concerns over COVID-19, especially for those people who live in the most severely affected areas. This study aims to clarifying the factors that influence anxiety level of Chinese people during the COVID-19 pandemic, with particular focus on exposure to different COVID-19 information in media. Methods 4991 respondents were randomly recruited from a national online panel from February 12, 2020 to February 14, 2020, during which period of time the number of COVID-19 cases surpassed 10,000 in a single day and the total cases in China reached to 63940. Measures assessed respondents self-rated anxiety, media exposure of COVID-19 information, social and geographical proximity to COVID-19, and perceived risk. Results Media exposure to COVID-19 information was differently associated with anxiety. Anxiety was found to be high in respondents who personally know someone infected with COVID-19 or living in an area that has reported cases. Respondents perceived more risks also reported higher level of anxiety. Conclusions This study highlighted the role of media exposure in influencing individuals’ anxiety level during a global pandemic. Government and health professionals are recommended to adopt effective risk communication strategy to improve citizens’ mental health during the pandemic.