Just five days of isolation is enough to stop Covid spreading, according to health chiefs in the US – so is it time the UK followed suit? Amid a growing number of experts calling for the change, in a bid to reduce the record numbers of staff absences, The Medical Minefield team ask the experts if it's a sensible next step, or simply too risky. Dr Monica Gandhi, public health expert at the University of California San Francisco argues that the UK is lagging behind and should relax isolation rules now, while Professor Lawrence Young of Warwick Medical School, explains why it might be too soon to cut quarantine.

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Despite the good news that Omicron is milder than Delta, scientists are still calling for New Year restrictions to protect the NHS from an influx of patients. Speaking to the Medical Minefield team, Professor Christina Pagel from University College London says if we don't do something now, we're almost guaranteed to need a longer lockdown later down the line. But Robert Dingwall, professor of sociology at Nottingham Trent University, points to previous infectious disease outbreaks in the UK which he says prove we CAN live with the virus, and avoid disaster. Restrictions, he says, are not just unnecessary – they'll do more harm than good.

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With the threat of the Omicron variant looming, some have suggested that vaccines should be mandatory for all adults - but some very Covid-cautious scientists believe that this is a terrible idea. The Medical Minefield team talk to Deepti Gurdasani, epidemiologist at Queen Mary University London, who believes that mandatory vaccines can deepen distrust and speak to Dr Peter English, who believes mandatory vaccines would spark a backlash - and that vaccine passports are a more important tool.

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The Omicron variant is an unwelcome reminder that the pandemic is far from over. But just how much worse are things going to get – and will Plan B be enough to avoid a lockdown? The Medical Minefield team speak to Fiona Fox of Science Media Centre on why Omicron is a setback, rather than a return to square one, and to Professor Penny Ward, professor of pharmaceutical medicine at King's College London, who suggests that we should keep calm - and carry on boosting.

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It was dubbed ‘Frankenscience' that would lead to a world where ‘designer babies' were the norm – and the greatest leap forward in fertility science since the introduction of IVF. The controversial technique, which uses DNA from three people rather than two to allow parents with rare genetic conditions to have healthy children was given the green light in 2017 – but we've heard nothing since. We speak to health journalist Jo Macfarlane who has discovered that 27 women have now undergone the procedure – raising the prospect that three-parent babies might already be among us. Liz Curtis who is Chief Executive of the Lilly Foundation, a mitochondrial disease charity, argues the technique is a lifeline, yet researcher Dr David Clancy warns it might do more harm than good.

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Under new NHS guidelines, depressed patients offered CBT, mindfulness, and even advised to exercise more before being offered antidepressant pills – a change which will affect millions of people. The Medical Minefield team talk to two Mail on Sunday columnists who take antidepressants themselves, Sarah Vine, who says it's vital patients are given options aside from medication, and GP Dr Ellie Cannon, who explains how the plan will work in practice.

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It's a topic few celebrities talk about – how constant dieting, and being enviably thin – can in fact play havoc on your fertility, and make it difficult to conceive, say experts. Now, in a brave and revealing interview with Medical Minefield's Eve Simmons, who has suffered this problem herself, Izzy Judd - wife of McFly star Harry – tells of the brutal eating disorder she's battled for three years and how it almost destroyed her fertility.

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This week, the ‘no jab no job' rule for care homes came into force, with 50,000 carers set to lose employment. The Medical Minefield team speak to one carer who has already made the ultimate sacrifice – leaving his job to avoid taking the jab. Meanwhile, Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe from Unite The Union explains why the policy is detrimental, and is likely to lead to extreme staff shortages while putting thousands off having the jab altogether, because they feel ‘forced'. 

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The Medical Minefield team explore the growing culture of so-called ‘defensive medicine' – where doctors act super cautiously, forcing patients to undergo tests that aren't needed to avoid legal complaints, should they miss something. Dr Jenny Vaughn, chair of the Doctor's Association, warns that the culture poses great danger to both patients and doctors, while Margaret Simson tells of how an unnecessary colonoscopy-gone-wrong left her with permanent bowel problem.

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As a shocking report suggests that as many as one in five of the medical trials we rely on to tell us drugs are safe may be fabricated, altered - and even made up - The Mail on Sunday team speak to the scientists investigating this widespread scandal and ask, what does this mean for patients? Richard Smith, former British Medical Journal editor suggests the answer is to treat every study as if it's made-up, until proven otherwise, while Lisa Bero at health research authority Cochrane tells of the steps already being taken to combat the problem.

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