[CentOS] Problem running yum update command

I am running CentOS 6.5 in a VZ container and today when I wanted to run yum update command I receive the following error messages:

rpmdb: unable to join the environment error: db3 error(11) from dbenv->open: Resource temporarily unavailable error: cannot open Packages index using db3 - Resource temporarily unavailable (11) error: cannot open Packages database in /var/lib/rpm CRITICAL:yum.main:

Googling the message I find several-year old posts where it seems that the database has been corrupted (or similar.) Has anyone else seen this recently and is there a recommended fix?

Thank you.

Hakan