BEIJING - iQiyi, China’s answer to Netflix, will offer free movies and television shows in some areas over the Lunar New Year holiday, after Beijing urged platforms to drop their paywalls with many people stuck at home to help combat the pandemic.

Millions of Chinese normally criss-cross the country to return to their hometowns during the nation’s biggest holiday, but authorities have rolled out stringent anti-virus measures in recent weeks after hundreds of new coronavirus cases were reported.