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Objective: Poor risk perception and practice of COVID-19 precautionary containment measures among health professionals may result in rapid spread of the infection in the health care settings. So, this study was designed to determine the risk perception and precautionary health behavior toward coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among health professionals working in selected public university hospitals of Ethiopia, 2020. Methods: A web-based cross-sectional survey was used among health professionals working in selected public university hospitals of Ethiopia. A structured survey questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic, risk perception, and behavioral response items were used. The survey questions were designed on Google form. All academic and clinical staffs were invited to participate in the online survey, which was carried out from May 1–14, 2020. Data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 24. Descriptive statistics computed and the result is presented by tables and figures. Results: A total of 273 health professionals participated in this study. The mean (± SD) age of participants was 31.03 ± 5.11. Study participants’ overall mean score of perceived risk was 23.59 ± 4.75. The study participants’ mean score of perceived vulnerability (4.01 ± 1.17) was higher than the human immunodeficiency virus, common cold, malaria, and tuberculosis. Regarding precautionary health behavior, the lowest mean score is for wearing gloves 1.82 ± 1.15. Conclusion: Participants mean score of perceived vulnerability of coronavirus disease was higher than some of the prevalent infectious disease in the area. Almost all participants applied recommended protective measures to the acceptable level, except for wearing mask and gloves. It is recommended to promote appropriate COVID-19 precautionary containment measures and credible information to reduce the respondent’s higher perceived vulnerability and spread of the infection.