Two million Canadians have already lost or are at immediate risk of losing their jobs in the COVID-19 crisis, pushing the countrys unemployment rate to an estimated 13.9 per cent, says a new analysis from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

The unemployment rate in March is on track to be the highest in 70 years, and were only at the beginning of the economic fallout, analysis author David Macdonald said in a statement emailed to media.

If three-quarters of those 2 million potential job losses take place what the analysis calls the realistic case Toronto would lose some 261,000 jobs, Montreal would lose 192,000, and Vancouver would see 140,000 jobs disappear, Macdonald found.