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Switzerland is lighting up the Matterhorn to send a powerful message to its people ... as the country's being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

The iconic 14,600-foot mountain in the Alps was illuminated with a projection of the word "#hope" over the colors of the Swiss flag. The mountainside shines over the nearby ski resort town of Zermatt. They also projected "#stayhome" on the mountainside.

The new beacon comes as Switzerland has surpassed 10,000 cases of COVID-19 ... the fifth European nation to do so.

Zermatt says the light display is meant to "show solidarity with all the people who are currently suffering and are grateful to all those who are helping to overcome the crisis."

The Matterhorn's illumination was done by Swiss light artist Gerry Hofstetter and will appear every night from after sunset until 11 PM ... for the foreseeable future.

U.S. Army soldiers based in South Korea won't be getting their fitness on in their usual spot -- the main gym on base is closed due to someone contracting the coronavirus.

Lt. Col. Robin Ochoa of the U.S. Army tells TMZ ... Camp Humphreys, located some 40 miles south of Seoul, will close it's so-called "super gym" because an individual on the base who tested positive for COVID-19 had recently visited the gym.

We're told staff is sterilizing the gym but hasn't determined when it will reopen, the location serves nearly 40,000 residents at Camp Humphreys ... the largest overseas base in the world. According to the military outlet Stars and Stripes, U.S. Forces Korea announced late Thursday an 11th individual affiliated with USFK tested positive for COVID-19 but provided no additional details about who or the timeline.

So far, there have been just over 9,200 cases in South Korea ... resulting in 131 deaths.

The coronavirus pandemic is taking lives worldwide ... and it apparently contributed to an Italian nurse taking her own life over the "heavy stress" of testing positive and possibly spreading it to others.

Daniela Trezzi -- a 34-year-old nurse who'd been treating patients at the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza in the very hard-hit region of Lombardy -- reportedly took her own life after spending a couple weeks at home sick.

She was presumably in quarantine after being diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this month, but according to reports ... she had been working in the ICU of the hospital for days before Italy went on lockdown.

Trezzi was reportedly distraught over the notion she had spread the virus to other patients she worked on before she knew she had coronavirus herself.

Her hospital's general manager said she'd been home since March 10, but was not under surveillance. Her death is under investigation.

The National Federation of Nurses in Italy expressed "pain and dismay" over Trezzi's death, saying ... "Each of us has chosen this profession for good and, unfortunately, also for bad: we are nurses."

The federation added a similar instance of a nurse suicide occurred last week in Venice due to the "stress to which our professionals are subjected."

Greta Thunberg -- the 17-year-old climate activist -- says she spent the last 10 days in isolation after coming down with what she believes is COVID-19.

Yeah, listen up young people ... this is important.

Thunberg says she started to feel symptoms -- fatigue, shivers, sore throat and cough -- when she returned to Sweden from a trip around Central Europe roughly 2 weeks ago. Her father, who also traveled with her, had similar symptoms but "much more intense."

In Sweden, Greta says, people are not allowed to test for coronavirus unless they need emergency medical treatment -- so instead of clogging up the healthcare system, she self-isolated instead "in a borrowed apartment away from my mother and sister."

"I have therefore not been tested for COVID-19, but it’s extremely likely that I’ve had it, given the combined symptoms and circumstances."

The good news ... Greta says she's "basically recovered" but she's sending a strong message to young people -- warning them to TAKE EXTREME PRECAUTIONS so they don't infect someone else who might not handle it as well.

"THIS IS THE BOTTOM LINE: I almost didn’t feel ill. My last cold was much worse than this! Had it not been for someone else having the virus simultaneously I might not even have suspected anything."

"We who don’t belong to a risk group have an enormous responsibility, our actions can be the difference between life and death for many others."

Elon Musk's coming to the rescue as Los Angeles gears up to fight the deadly coronavirus ... because he's already following through with a promise to supply ventilators to patients in need.

California Governor Gavin Newsom just said the Tesla founder has already delivered the 1,000 ventilators he promised to Los Angeles, this less than a week after Elon said he was ready to pitch in for relief efforts with some much-needed medical supplies.

As we reported ... Elon offered to have one of his Tesla factories start making ventilators to help battle the COVID-19 pandemic after catching some flak on social media.

One of the big problems with the coronavirus is not knowing if the person you're interacting with has it ... which underscores how EMT's are among the heroes of the pandemic.

Check out the video ... a man was sleeping on a subway train Friday when he suffered a seizure. He let out a scream, which some say sounded like a gasp, and then his arms flailed as he clearly needed medical attention.

Medical attention he got, thanks to the folks who gave him emergency care. We're told he had a seizure and did NOT have coronavirus. Nevertheless, the EMTs didn't know that and even though they had protective gear on ... it's still heroic.

New York is hitting pause amid the coronavirus pandemic ... the entire state is shutting down to protect residents from the outbreak.

New Yorkers will only be allowed to leave their homes for essential business, and all other workers are being told to stay home, as ordered by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who says there will be a civil fine and mandatory closure for any biz not in compliance.

Cuomo is calling this, "New York state on pause," and he says it's the most drastic action the state can take to fight the outbreak.

The shutdown rules -- remain indoors aside from solitary exercise outside, pre-screen all visitors and aides by taking temperatures, don't visit households with multiple people, vulnerable people should wear a mask around others, stay at least 6 feet away from individuals, only take public transportation if it's urgent and absolutely necessary.

Cuomo says the state has more than 7,000 confirmed coronavirus cases ... this out of more than 32,000 individual tests.

New York follows the entire state of California in putting non-essential workers on 24-hour virus lockdown ... meaning 1 in 5 Americans are being told to stay home.

Cuomo says the mandate is not a "shelter in place" order ... and he says mass transit workers, restaurant staff doing delivery and take-out count as essential workers and can still go to work.

Another poor pooch has tested positive for coronavirus ... this time it's a 2-year-old German shepherd owned by a 30-year-old human also infected with COVID-19.

The second dog likely contracted the virus from its owner in the Pok Fu Lam-area of Hong Kong, and not the other way around ... according to experts.

In fact, both the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health and the CDC have stated there's no evidence house pets like cats and dogs can spread the virus ... and people should not abandon their animals out of fear.

The German shepherd has been quarantined along with another mixed-breed dog from the same home. According to the the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department ... the other pooch has not tested positive and neither dog has shown any symptoms of coronavirus, so that's good news.

The AFCD will continue monitoring the dogs.

The second positive test comes just days after the first known dog to test positive -- a 17-year-old pomeranian -- died in Hong Kong after returning from quarantine. The dog has tested weak positive and was old, so animal welfare experts have said it may have died from stress or natural causes ... and not from COVID-19.

People across the globe are learning new languages to pass the time at home ... and one language software company says Tom Hanks' coronavirus diagnosis triggered a spike in sales.

Here's the deal ... honchos at Rosetta Stone, Babbel and Duolingo tell us they're all seeing a surge in language software sales during the pandemic ... and Babbel says it all started when Tom told the world he contracted COVID-19.

Babbel tells TMZ ... business started booming once Tom announced his diagnosis and the NBA suspended its season -- and they're seeing a big spike in sales in areas under a complete coronavirus shutdown.

It's interesting ... Babbel sales saw a slight decrease when Italy started getting ravaged by the virus, but everything flipped when the country started quarantining entire cities.

Now, Babbel sales are seeing a 50% increase compared to what they usually see this time of year. And, the company says most folks say "cultural interest" is the reason for buying the service, surpassing the previous most-popular answer, "travel."

In the States, Babbel says most folks are trying to learn Spanish, French, Italian and German ... and the company is offering 3-months of free software for American students.

Over at Duolingo, the company tells us software usage is at an all-time high, with an increase in new users across the board in all 50 states. From March 9 to March 16 alone, Duolingo tells us they had a 91% surge in new users in the U.S. We're told the majority of new users this week are learning Spanish.

And finally, honchos at Rosetta Stone tell TMZ ... they're seeing strong growth in Washington state and Northern California, two areas hit hard by the virus.

Elon Musk's offering to make ventilators to help coronavirus patients who desperately need them, but his proposal begs the question ... what's the freakin' holdup?!

The Tesla founder stirred the pot on Twitter late Wednesday night when he replied to someone who told him to "stop being an idiot" about the COVID-19 pandemic and use his factory to make ventilators as quickly as possible.

Elon's response -- "We will make ventilators if there is a shortage."

It's not necessarily the most heroic way of putting it, but it's promising to see Musk committing to helping out ... following the footsteps of other major motor companies that have already promised to lend a hand in any way possible.

Problem is ... health experts are already clear ... there WILL be a shortage of ventilators for those seriously infected with the coronavirus. So, Elon's "if" seems moot.

Of course, just days ago he said the "danger of panic still far exceeds danger" of COVID-19, and cited a CDC graph suggesting if we over-allocate medical resources to coronavirus it will come at the expense of treating other illnesses.

He may be right, but if time is of the essence with producing ventilators ... there's no time to argue.

Amazon is doing its part to help stabilize its home turf, pouring additional millions into the Seattle area ... a community devastated by the coronavirus outbreak.

The shipping giant is behind a number of community-related efforts underway in several locations, but especially in Seattle, its primary HQ. Amazon's created a $5 million Neighborhood Small Business Relief Fund to provide cash grants to local companies in Seattle and Bellevue, WA. The money's intended to help them continue paying employees, and cover rent and other costs.

The corporation's also made a million-dollar donation to provide sick leave pay or health insurance to Seattle residents -- and pitched in another mil in Washington, D.C. toward medical response teams for the homeless, the elderly and hourly workers.

Of course, the goodwill efforts come on the heels of Amazon catching flak from some of its employees around the world -- some of whom reportedly feel overworked and not totally safe from the pandemic in their warehouses. We're told Amazon's committed to paying them even if they can't work due to COVID-19 cases or schedule changes.

Amazon's payroll expense is about to jump anyway ... because it's hiring at least 100k more people in the U.S. to meet surging demand. All those quarantined customers shopping from home want their stuff now.

The coronavirus has pregnant women turning back the clock -- with increased fears about entering jam-packed hospitals, those about to pop are making alternate plans.

Several stand-alone birthing centers across the country tell TMZ they are seeing a massive influx of inquiring moms-to-be looking to deliver their babies -- either at their facilities or even at home ... just like in the old days.

Birthing center employees and directors in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tennessee, Seattle, Minnesota and elsewhere say a lot of third-trimester moms-to-be are freaked out about possibly delivering in hospitals that are getting more and more inundated with coronavirus patients.

Fortunately, most of the birthing centers we spoke with say they're adapting their policies to meet the frenzy -- now, they're taking in gals near full-term pregnancy ... but we've been told if someone is days away from their due date, they'll probably be turned away -- as these centers need time to set up and take measures to guarantee a safe birth.

That's not the only solution that's being considered in light of the crisis. The director of Seattle Birth Centers (a city now considered a major coronavirus hot spot) tells us their community is seeing retired midwives come back into the workforce because some folks are opting to push through right at home.

Of course, that usually means no epidural. Ouch ...

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles is closing its doors to most visitors during the coronavirus pandemic ... TMZ has learned.

As of early Wednesday morning, the hospital put the new rules in place to severely restrict the number of outside people entering the hospital. We're told surgery patients, and emergency room patients will be allowed one visitor.

Additionally, anyone who's given birth at the hospital is allowed one visitor. Sorry ... aunts, uncles, grandparents might have to wait until the newborn gets home.

Cedars is following in the footsteps of several other major hospitals around the country -- including ones in San Francisco and New York City.

San Francisco is going the way of Italy with its coronavirus safety measures -- the Mayor's instituting around-the-clock curfew, banning almost everyone from leaving their homes.

Mayor London Breed announced what she calls a "defining moment" in U.S. response to the pandemic. Beginning at 12 AM, all residents within the city can only leave home for doctor's appointments or runs to the grocery store.

It's the strictest new policy enacted in the nation, and matches the current rules in Italy ... which has been the 2nd hardest-hit country in the world.

The Mayor says the rule will remain in effect for at least the next 3 weeks.

In addition, to the city shut down, 6 Bay Area counties are telling residents to "shelter in place." That means ... unless your work falls under the list of "essential businesses," you've been ordered to stay home.

That list of essential businesses includes health care operations, grocery stores, shelters, media outlets, gas stations and banks. Restaurants can remain open, but only for takeout and delivery.