Kel Richards: Australian leaders have made no progress using medieval methods of 'fear campaigns' Sky News Contributor Kel Richards says if the only way our premiers can 'control' this pandemic is through quarantine, lockdown and slamming state borders shut, they will have to go on doing those things for many years to come. Kel RichardsSky News contributor July 26, 2021 - 1:47PM The Black Death (bubonic plague) was a pandemic that swept across Europe from 1347 to 1352. It killed an estimated 25 to 30 million people. It originated in central Asia and was carried by Mongol warriors and traders into eastern Europe, then entered western Europe via Italy.