diff --git a/coordinator/Processor.py b/coordinator/Processor.py
index fa550d03aa949e68a910c5d128ae80a64798893e..407dc7ccb5064fe0f540d55b85d2cdb275b20d24 100755
--- a/coordinator/Processor.py
+++ b/coordinator/Processor.py
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ def parse_and_check_args(todayString) -> dict:
             # early limit is quite arbitrary, but this is earliest year of available survey data for Ethiopia
             date_limit_early = datetime.datetime.strptime('20070101','%Y%m%d')
             assert date_limit_early < provided_start_date
-            assert provided_start_date < today_date
+            assert provided_start_date <= today_date
 
         except (ValueError, AssertionError) as e:
             logger.exception("Provided start date string is formatted incorrectly or out of range, or end date not also defined")
diff --git a/tests/test_data/test_deployment/regions/EastAfrica/workspace/readme.txt b/tests/test_data/test_deployment/regions/EastAfrica/workspace/readme.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index fa1ce64d1e2f13e385807eb361fd845f01ee9ef8..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/tests/test_data/test_deployment/regions/EastAfrica/workspace/readme.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-output of tests will get written here
\ No newline at end of file