The 192 members of the World Health Organisation yesterday approved international rules giving the WHO sweeping powers to tackle disease outbreaks and other health threats.

The WHO said the need for new international health regulations had been underlined by the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and the more recent bird flu epidemic in Asia. The current regulations, introduced half a century ago before the days of mass air travel and global mobility, cover only cholera, plague and yellow fever.