The Northern Ireland health minister, Edwin Poots has said that the infection killed three babies at a Belfast hospital came from sink taps.

He said that the Pseudomonas bacteria originated in taps at the neo-natal unit in the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital. The doctors detected seventh case of as Pseudomonas on Tuesday.

"I can report that investigations so far have shown that pseudomonas bacteria have been found in a number of taps in the intensive care area of the neonatal unit in the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital," Mr Poots said.

He also said that the team from Trust Health Estates is working on removing all the infected taps and related pipelines. He clarified that there is no evidence suggesting that the water system is infected by the bacterium.

He added that the experts have taken specialist advice from England and will carry out work to ensure safety over a period of few weeks. New ultraviolet light taps that are capable of killing the bacterium would be introduced in the neo-natal unit of the hospital to clean the infection.

"The unit will only be opened once all remedial work is completed and tests show that it is safe to nurse babies in this environment," he added.