A staff member conducts sample testing for COVID-19 at a laboratory in Moscow, Russia, on April 16, 2020. (Sputnik via Xinhua)

If the SARS-CoV-2 were a constructed virus, its genomic sequence would show a mix of known elements, but "this is not the case," according to the WHO.

GENEVA, April 24  -- All available evidence to date suggests that the novel coronavirus, which has caused the ongoing pandemic, has a natural animal origin and is not a manipulated or constructed virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a daily situation report on Thursday.

"Many researchers have been able to look at the genomic features of SARS-CoV-2 and have found that evidence does not support that SARS-CoV-2 is a laboratory construct," said the global health watchdog, stressing that if it were a constructed virus, its genomic sequence would show a mix of known elements, but "this is not the case."