[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