This is my story:
I got PPR back in February and sent my passport through the local VAC on March 2nd. My visa was approved on March 6 and on March 12 I received an update telling me that my passport had been dispatched from the embassy and sent back to my local VAC. On March 16th everything closed down and I never received any update again about the tracking of my passport.
Months passed and I contacted IRCC, VFS, the embassy and anyone that could offer any help and tell me where my passport was, and I always received answers telling me to vait until the VAC reopened. During all of this my visa was fast approaching the expiry date which is in early September. Finally just last week on the 3rd of August I contacted the embassy again telling them about my situation, including details like my application number and proof of why I needed my passport right away, thanks to this the VFS office wrote back to me last Friday telling me that the embassy had approved the return of my passport and to pick it up on Monday. Now after much waiting I can finally say I have the passport in my hands.
VFS doesn't misplace passports, they are really careful when transporting them, but they are very strict when following the guidelines given to them by the Canada government. Unless your local Canada embassy approves of the return of your passport you won't be able to get it back until the VAC opens again.