New Delhi, Aug 11 - Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad will brief senior bureaucrats who have been tasked to visit various state to help them contain the spread of H1N1 virus that has claimed eight lives and infected 960 people.

'The health minister will be meeting joint secretaries and additional secretaries drawn from various departments. He will be briefing them and advising them about capacity buildings in the states,' a health official told IANS ahead of the meeting Tuesday evening.

The officials said the 35 senior bureaucrats will be meeting chief ministers too.

'The health minister has also requested state chief ministers to meet these senior officials when they conduct the first meeting. This will help in fast-tracking all the decisions,' the official said.

The decision to rope in Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officials to the various states was taken Monday when Azad held a meeting with Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar and senior health officials.

Azad had admitted that sending letters to states about the swine flu pandemic was having little impact and said the central government would send senior officials to help them tackle the spread of the disease.

'Communication through letters is not showing gravity.