Updated at 9pm

At least 19 people aboard an Emirates flight from Dubai to New York were confirmed ill when the aircraft landed on Wednesday at John F. Kennedy International Airport, after as many as 100 passengers and crew reported feeling sick, authorities said.

Ten of the 19 people on Emirates airline Flight 203, which landed with at least 521 passengers around 9am, were taken to hospitals, while the other nine declined treatment, said Raul Contreras, a spokesman for the New York City mayor's office.

"Everyone else was clear," he said in an interview.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement that their symptoms included cough and fever.

Earlier, Dubai-based Emirates said in a statement that 10 passengers "were taken ill" on the flight from the Middle Eastern country and were transported to a hospital. It did not specify the symptoms or nature of the complaints.

The aircraft was taken to a location away from the terminal so that emergency officials could evaluate the situation, officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said they were monitoring the situation and President Donald Trump was being updated as new information became available.

The airplane involved was a double-deck Airbus A388 - the world's largest passenger aircraft - according to FlightAware.com.

CDC public health officers were working with other agencies to evaluate passengers, including taking temperatures and making arrangements for transport to hospitals, spokesman Benjamin Haynes said in the statement.

Passengers who were not ill were allowed to continue with their travel plans, he said.

Some sick passengers were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center with non-life-threatening conditions, according to a New York City Fire Department spokesman.

Larry Cohen, who identified himself as one of the passengers aboard the plane, uploaded photos on Twitter showing dozens of police and emergency vehicles waiting outside the plane on the tarmac.

"All we have been told is that there are some sick passengers and that we need to remain on board," Cohen told Reuters via Twitter messaging.