Objective To translate the English version of fear of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) scale (FCV-19S) into Chinese and assess its reliability and validity. Methods FCV-19S was translated and culture-adapted to form a Chinese version of fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S-C). A total of 334 questionnaires were sent out online, including FCV-19S-C, Chinese version of depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS-C21), impact of event scale-revised (IES-R) and public stigma scale. The reliability and validity of FCV-19S-C and the influencing factors of COVID-19 fear were analyzed with the survey data. Results FCV-19S-C contained 7 items. One common factor was extracted by exploratory factor analysis, reflecting that all items in the scale belonged to the common factor, which could explain 69.5% of total variation. The load of item factors ranged from 0.780 to 0.873, showing good construct validity. The total score of FCV-19S-C was positively correlated with the total scores of DASS-C21 and IES-R (r=0.403 and 0.471, both P<0.01), indicating that the scale had good concurrent validity. The Cronbach's α coefficient of FCV-19S-C was 0.924, showing good reliability. Linear regression analysis showed that the influences of COVID-19 on the psychological level and family income could predict the total score of FCV-19S-C (β=0.62 and 0.20, both P<0.01). The total score of FCV-19S-C could predict the total score of the public stigma scale (β=0.37, P<0.01). Conclusion FCV-19S-C has good reliability and validity, and can be used as a tool to understand the public fear of COVID-19 in China. The fear of COVID-19 is related to the loss of family income and the public stigma of COVID-19 patients.