A statement will be made by Northern Ireland health minister Edwin Poots on what is being done by the medical staff to find out the reason of deaths that led to deaths of three babies at the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital in Belfast.

A suspected case is now being investigated and six babies have traces of the bacterial infection on their skin. To keep the infection from entering their bloodstream, they are being watched closely.

No new case has however been confirmed by the laboratory tests, but the same Pseudomonas symptoms have been seen in the victim.

The maternity unit has been cleaned up in detail but the source of infection remains unknown. It was being thought that the infection could be in water following which, sinks and taps were removed and pipes were checked thoroughly.

The statement will be made at Stormont for which complete details have been asked by Poots. He said, “We can't suggest at this stage that's the cause of the problem, but it's certainly one of the areas being investigated.”

The deaths started from January 6 when the first baby had died and a week later the second baby died and it was on Thursday night when the third one died.