Through in-depth interviews, this study explored the health communication strategies of Chinese television news during the COVID-19pandemic and their perceptions and evaluations among audiences. The study found that TV news effectively improved public health literacy, eased public anxiety, and guided public health behaviors during the pandemic by releasing timely information about the pandemic, inviting authoritative experts to interpret the situation, popularizing health knowledge, and providing emotional support. The audience generally evaluated the performance of TV news positively, but also made some suggestions for improvement, such as hoping to increase interaction with the public, enhance the transparency of information, and provide more mental health support content. Based on the results of the study, the following recommendations are made: continue to exert authority and broad coverage, enhance interaction and transparency, increase mental health support content, promote scientific protection knowledge and behaviors, and develop multi-channel health communication.