Up to 3.01 million jobs could be lost in Japan due to the new coronavirus pandemic in the year through next March, an impact more serious than the 2008 to 2009 global financial crisis, a research institute said Wednesday.

In the worst case scenario analyzed, in which containment of the global virus is achieved at the end of this year, Japan would see a 4.5 percent fall in the number of workers from the previous year, according to the Chubu Region Institute for Social and Economic Research based in Nagoya.

In fiscal 2009, the financial crisis accelerated by the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. led to about 950,000 people in Japan losing their jobs, resulting in a 1.5 percent decline in the number of workers, according to the institute.