The Loop: Return to lockdowns ruled out, Chris Noth out of The Equalizer amid sexual assault claims and stealing a bridge is... a bridge too far

G'day, g'day.

It's Tuesday, December 21 and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of the news you need to know about.

As the Omicron COVID-19 variant spreads, there's understandably a little bit of concern around what that could mean for our day-to-day lives.

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison has hosed down suggestions we could be looking at a repeat of the past 18 months, saying we need to "move from a culture of mandates to a culture of responsibility".

"One of the key messages is, yes, we're going to need to continue to calibrate how we manage this virus and how we live with this virus in the face of Omicron. But we're not going back to lockdowns. We're not going back to shutting down peoples' lives."