BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Over the past month, Chinese internet users made a daily average of over 1 billion searches for coronavirus-related information on the country's major online search engine Baidu.

File photo: CGTN

The trending keywords on Baidu, ranging from tips on virus protection to cooking recipes, offer a glimpse into the shifting mindset of Chinese whose lives have been affected by the epidemic.

In the early stage of the outbreak, internet users were hungry for tips on protection, searching on Baidu whether salty water and a hot bath could prevent one from being infected, among other dodgy measures.

"Over the past two weeks, internet users were more curious about when the number of infections would peak," said Zeng Liyong, a senior product manager with Baidu.

As enterprises across China gradually resumed operations over the past week, searches for "resumption of work" and "reopening of schools" began to gain steam on Baidu, increasing by over eight times compared to the previous week.

Among web users with small and medium-sized enterprises, queries about "methods for reducing expenditure" and "cloud working" accounted for up to 27 percent and 22 percent, respectively, of the total searches.

In the meantime, a surging number of the eat-at-home population are keen to know how to improve their cooking skills. Recipes for cabbages, steamed buns and potatoes were among the most-searched words.

Big data on the trending keywords can tell a lot about the changing mindset of China's internet users amid the epidemic, said Zhao Guodong, an expert on big data.

"As measures to combat the epidemic began to take effect, people showed growing confidence in winning the fight and focused more on their daily life and work," said Zhao.