Killing off the Economy to save Lives

In the first days of January 2020, people in Portugal were worried with an incoming flu that originated in Wuhan, China that seemed to require intensive use of a ventilator for the treatment of the worst cases, affecting in majority the elderly. The situation of the flu quickly evolved, and soon, in March 2020, Portugal officially declared a state of emergency, with a lockdown of most of the economy. The state of emergency was renewed 3x (for periods of 15 days), and no one wanted to extend the state of emergency for a fourth time...the economy was deeply hurt, and although the virus' propagation was contained at a very early stage (only roughly 3% of the population had been infected), it seemed that the worst was yet to come... what did Portugal's prime minister, António Costa, have to do in order to minimize the damage caused to his country?