The applicant is a national of Nigeria whose international protection application in Italy was dismissed by the Territorial Commission of Salerno. The applicant submitted a subsequent application that was considered inadmissible for absence of new elements by the same Territorial commission  - Section of Campobasso, by decision of 9 October 2019. The applicant appealed the decision and the Court of Campobasso partly allowed it and granted a special protection to the applicant (national protection). The Court of Campobasso held that in assessing the possibility of the applicant's repatriation, the danger posed by COVID-19 in Nigeria has to be duly considered in light of the increase in infections and deaths, jointly with the inability of the health system to deal with the emergency, along with a high cost of accessing the health service, as the only way to access healthcare in Nigeria. In the event of repatriation, the applicant would be exposed to further and serious harm as a result of the high risk of the pandemic in the context of a precarious environment which is in any event inferior to Italian health standards. The analysis of the court was based on a thorough examination of recent and updated country of origin reports on the situation in Nigeria.  

The court granted special protection based on the recent amendment introduced by Legislative Decree no. 13/2020.